Germany should start conserving gas now – industry lobby
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Loading... - Hannie Prinsen
- 06 May 2022
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Germany should start conserving gas now to replenish storage levels well ahead of winter and avoid rationing caused by any sharp reduction or stoppage in supplies from Russia.
Germany should start conserving gas now to replenish storage levels well ahead of winter and avoid rationing caused by any sharp reduction or stoppage in supplies from Russia, industry lobby VIK said on Friday.
“There is an urgent need to reduce natural gas consumption immediately in order to conserve reserves and achieve the goal of the highest possible storage levels in autumn 2022,” it said in a statement.
It called for all possible substitutes for natural gas in power generation but did not specify any energy source. The association was not immediately available for comment.
Germany, which sourced 55% of its gas from Russia last year, is struggling to wean off this dependency in line with EU efforts to punish the Kremlin for the invasion of Ukraine.
The German government has put on hold the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline linking to Russia, even though it was completed last September.
And it wants German gas stocks to reach 80% of full capacity by 1 October and 90% by 1 December, and at least 40% by 1 February. Storage levels were last at 36.7% of full capacity, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.
"Cause for alarm"
“It is alarming that more than two months after the start of the war, there are still no concrete efforts visible in Germany to strengthen electricity generation from non-gas-based power plants and in this way to reduce natural gas consumption, at least of power plants without heat extraction,” said Christian Seyfert, head of VIK.
Under a German emergency plan for gas, industrial gas users would be among the first ones to suffer from rationing gas while private households, gas-fired plants that deliver district heating and vital infrastructure such as hospitals would get a preference in the gas distribution. Read More...
It called for all possible substitutes for natural gas in power generation but did not specify any energy source. The association was not immediately available for comment.
Germany, which sourced 55% of its gas from Russia last year, is struggling to wean off this dependency in line with EU efforts to punish the Kremlin for the invasion of Ukraine.
The German government has put on hold the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline linking to Russia, even though it was completed last September.
And it wants German gas stocks to reach 80% of full capacity by 1 October and 90% by 1 December, and at least 40% by 1 February. Storage levels were last at 36.7% of full capacity, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe.
"Cause for alarm"
“It is alarming that more than two months after the start of the war, there are still no concrete efforts visible in Germany to strengthen electricity generation from non-gas-based power plants and in this way to reduce natural gas consumption, at least of power plants without heat extraction,” said Christian Seyfert, head of VIK.
Under a German emergency plan for gas, industrial gas users would be among the first ones to suffer from rationing gas while private households, gas-fired plants that deliver district heating and vital infrastructure such as hospitals would get a preference in the gas distribution. Read More...
