diff --git a/data/custom_powerplants.csv b/data/custom_powerplants.csv
index fb83a5ff4..d81c32bca 100644
--- a/data/custom_powerplants.csv
+++ b/data/custom_powerplants.csv
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Name,Fueltype,Technology,Set,Country,Capacity,Efficiency,Duration,Volume_Mm3,DamHeight_m,StorageCapacity_MWh,DateIn,DateRetrofit,DateMothball,DateOut,lat,lon,EIC,projectID,bus
+Name,Fueltype,Technology,Set,Country,Capacity,Efficiency,Duration,Volume_Mm3,DamHeight_m,StorageCapacity_MWh,DateIn,DateRetrofit,DateOut,lat,lon,EIC,projectID,bus
diff --git a/doc/release_notes.rst b/doc/release_notes.rst
index 280904488..80f8f7410 100644
--- a/doc/release_notes.rst
+++ b/doc/release_notes.rst
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@ This part of documentation collects descriptive release notes to capture the mai
 
 **Minor Changes and bug-fixing**
 
+* Prevent computation of powerplantmatching if replace option is selected for custom_powerplants `PR #1281 <https://github.com/pypsa-meets-earth/pypsa-earth/pull/1281>`__
+
 
 PyPSA-Earth 0.6.0
 =================
diff --git a/scripts/build_powerplants.py b/scripts/build_powerplants.py
index 4bf22e524..b1719108d 100644
--- a/scripts/build_powerplants.py
+++ b/scripts/build_powerplants.py
@@ -337,13 +337,16 @@ def replace_natural_gas_technology(df: pd.DataFrame):
     else:
         config["main_query"] = ""
 
-    ppl = (
-        pm.powerplants(from_url=False, update=True, config_update=config)
-        .powerplant.fill_missing_decommissioning_years()
-        .query('Fueltype not in ["Solar", "Wind"] and Country in @countries_names')
-        .powerplant.convert_country_to_alpha2()
-        .pipe(replace_natural_gas_technology)
-    )
+    if snakemake.config["electricity"]["custom_powerplants"] != "replace":
+        ppl = (
+            pm.powerplants(from_url=False, update=True, config_update=config)
+            .powerplant.fill_missing_decommissioning_years()
+            .query('Fueltype not in ["Solar", "Wind"] and Country in @countries_names')
+            .powerplant.convert_country_to_alpha2()
+            .pipe(replace_natural_gas_technology)
+        )
+    else:
+        ppl = pd.DataFrame()
 
     ppl = add_custom_powerplants(
         ppl, snakemake.input, snakemake.config