Germany is thinking of getting electricity from Austria, fearing it will run low on power this winter due to plans to shut down eight nuclear plants, the Austrian daily Kurier reported Friday.
Citing a letter from Germany's electricity agency, canvassing eight Austrian providers, Kurier said on its Internet site that Berlin was concerned it would not have enough power for the south of the country in case of another hard European winter.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government decided to shut down all 17 of Germany's nuclear reactors over 11 years, following the disaster at the Fukushima plant in Japan in March.
Austrian providers would be an alternative to prolonging the life of one of the German reactors, an issue on which the electricity agency is to make a decision later this month.
Austria itself imports electricity in the winter as its hydroelectric generators do not produce enough.
Exporting power to Germany would push Austria's gas-run generators to the limit and increase the alpine nation's carbon dioxide emissions, said Kurier.
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