Berlin (dpa) – Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) wants to reduce gas consumption in Germany with extensive measures and react to the throttling of Russian deliveries.
This is intended to prevent a serious gas crisis, especially with a view to winter and the start of the heating period. Basically, it’s about state billions for the quick filling of storage facilities, coal instead of gas for power generation and incentives for industrial companies to use less.
Strengthen prevention
The situation is serious, said Habeck on Sunday. “We are therefore further strengthening precautions and taking additional measures to reduce gas consumption. This means that gas consumption must continue to fall, so more gas must be stored in storage, otherwise things will get really tight in winter.”
The Russian state-owned company Gazprom had significantly reduced the flow of gas through the Nord Stream Baltic Sea pipeline in the past few days. This was justified with delays in the repair of compressor turbines by Siemens Energy.
The tense situation and the high prices are a direct consequence of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine at the behest of President Vladimir Putin, according to the Green politician. “It’s obviously Putin’s strategy to unsettle us, drive up prices and divide us. We won’t allow that.”
The missing quantities could still be replaced, and the gas storage tanks were still being filled, albeit at high prices. The security of supply is currently guaranteed. According to Habeck, gas consumption in the electricity sector and in industry should be reduced and the storage tanks should be filled: “Depending on the situation, we will take further measures.”
Additional line of credit
Specifically, it is about: In order to secure the storage of gas, the federal government will soon provide an additional credit line through the state bank KfW in the amount of 15 billion euros, as the German Press Agency learned from government circles. The credit line is limited until the end of 2025 and has been discussed with the Ministry of Finance. The budget committee is still to be briefed.
In view of rising gas prices, the so-called market area manager Trading Hub Europe THE should use the loan to get the necessary liquidity to buy gas and fill the storage facilities. The loan is secured by a federal guarantee. Trading Hub Europe was created through cooperation between network companies.
Habeck is also planning a gas auction model for the summer. This is intended to give industrial gas consumers incentives to save gas. In essence, it is about industrial customers who can do without gas reduce their consumption for a fee that is financed via the market – and make the gas available so that it can be stored. “Everything that we consume less helps,” says Habeck. The industry is a key factor in this.
Gas is important not only for heating homes, but also in industry, as a raw material for production and for energy production. According to the ministry, gas contributed around 15 percent to electricity generation in 2021; according to industry information, the share was around 10 percent in May.
coal instead of gas
In the electricity market, the use of gas is to be reduced – instead of gas, more coal is to be converted into electricity. Government plans should be implemented as soon as possible. Coal-fired power plants that are currently only available to a limited extent, would soon be shut down or are in reserve should then be used.
According to the ministry, a corresponding law is to be passed by the Federal Council on July 8th and then come into force quickly. At the same time, a necessary ministerial regulation is being prepared. “We will call up the gas replacement reserve as soon as the law comes into force,” says Habeck. “That means, to be honest, more coal-fired power plants for a transitional period. That’s bitter, but in this situation it’s almost necessary to reduce gas consumption.”
The industry had also called for gas-fired power generation to be stopped and coal-fired power plants to be taken out of reserve immediately. According to the draft law, the increased use of climate-damaging coal-fired power plants should be limited until March 2024. According to earlier information from the ministry, the share of Russian gas could be gradually reduced to 10 percent of consumption in Germany by the summer of 2024. It is currently 35 percent, before the Ukraine war it was 55 percent.
Habeck does not want to shake an earlier exit from coal. The traffic light coalition wants to “ideally” bring this forward to 2030, so far it has been planned for 2038 at the latest.
“We must and we will do everything we can to store as much gas as possible in summer and autumn,” said Habeck. The gas storage tanks should be full by winter. That has top priority.
Gas storage level at 57 percent
The current level of storage is around 57 percent, according to the report by the Federal Network Agency on Sunday. The government’s goal is for the gas storage tanks to be 80 percent full by October 1st and 90 percent by November 1st – in order to be prepared for possible bottlenecks.
The government had already taken various other measures to reduce dependence on Russian gas. Liquid gas terminals are to be built in Germany and the expansion of green electricity from wind and sun is to be massively accelerated.
But that takes years. In order to provide short-term incentives for lower consumption, politicians and economists have proposed discounts or bonuses for private households. Habeck had made it clear that he could not rule out legal measures to save energy as a consequence of the reduced gas supplies. The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, had introduced a legally prescribed reduction in the heating temperature for apartments. This met with great criticism. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) told the dpa: “I am not a supporter of discussing individual measures before an overall concept is available.”
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