If you could leave nuclear, and "replace" lignite with wind and solar instead, you actually replaced nuclear with lignite.
>The decision to phase out nuclear has long been made (for good reasons).
No, it was made for bad reasons.
>Keeping them active or even building new reactors of that kind is not an economically viable solution. The price Germany pays for this is higher carbon emissions for the time being until renewables push coal out of the mix. What Germany gains, on the other hand, is the removal of the most expensive form of energy
_Existing_ nuclear reactors are the cheapest possible source of electricity. You already had to build them and will have to close them. Left is the cheapest part, of actually operating them.
Just selecting 2023 as a timeframe isn't good data.
You can see here [1] that on a time frame of 2000 to 2022 Germany is yet to replace reduction of nuclear generation (Kernkraft) with renewables. Construction of renewables in 2023 has only accelerated 50% relative to 2022 [2].
I'm not sure at which one of those graphs I should be looking at. The gross power consumption one seems to refute your own claim. The total gross electricity usage of Germany in 1990 was 551 Twh, 587 twh in 2003 and is currently around 550 Twh. Current expectations is that usage will grow to 650 Twh in 2030 and to 750+ Twh in 2050.
Charts are an irrelevant red herring. The argument is simple and indisputable: Germany's collective investments in renewables was not predicated on the closing of nuclear plants instead of coal plants. Had Germany not shut down nuclear, they could have shut down coal. It's that simple.
>The decision to phase out nuclear has long been made (for good reasons).
No, it was made for bad reasons.
>Keeping them active or even building new reactors of that kind is not an economically viable solution. The price Germany pays for this is higher carbon emissions for the time being until renewables push coal out of the mix. What Germany gains, on the other hand, is the removal of the most expensive form of energy
_Existing_ nuclear reactors are the cheapest possible source of electricity. You already had to build them and will have to close them. Left is the cheapest part, of actually operating them.