If you turn on the local news here in Germany, you’re likely to see reports on gas reserve levels, that is the combined amount of gas held in various underground reserves around the nation compared to their capacity. It’s not especially riveting coverage, but for many businesses, it’s of vast importance. Should gas levels fall too fast, say, after especially cold temperatures, their gas could then be turned off as a rationing measure. And some firms don’t have alternatives.
Germany’s gas storage facilities never attracted much attention before. Now they’re at the center of public debate, and for good reason. The country’s energy security depends on them this winter.
For German businesses like this break factory in Bavaria, production is dictated by the levels of Germany’s gas reserves.
Comment From Local brick maker
“That’s a major thing. We checked that almost everyday and we’re we’re, it’s, it’s how we run our business here. We need it.”
Full reserves ensure steady brick production even during the winter when Germany imports less gas than it uses. Just a few kilometers from the brick factory and Volfas back lies Germany’s deepest gas storage facility.
It’s a porous rock gas storage. What’s above ground is just the tip. The most important part lies 3000 meters below. There, the gas is stored in porous rock that’s millions of years old. It soaks up the gas like a sponge and permeable rocks and water around it. Act like a natural barrier and prevent leaks.
The gas levels are closely monitored at all times.
This way, the four fast-back gas storage could supply up to 300,000 households with gas for one year most of the time.
The uneasy question in the back of my mind is what if we have a really cold winter? Because if it’s really cold, we’ll have problems even when the reservoirs are full.
That could see flames go out and factories close, despite Germany’s state-of-the-art storage facilities.
Head of “political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, and director there for energy, climate, and resources heading answered some questions of Media:-
should Germans be optimistic or pessimistic when looking at how the gas supply is shaping this winter?
-I think Germany can look optimistically into the into the early start of 2023 for sure gas consumption just before Christmas was really high, but that’s because it was really cold demand this week after Christmas before New Year’s Eve will be really low because industrial gas consumption will go down because everyone’s on holiday. And the latest weather forecast is for relatively mild weather for the next couple of weeks and gas inventories are still about 86% fall, so we should be alright.
We’ve often heard that next winter will be even harder. Do you share that opinion and why is that if that’s the case?
-That depends a little bit on the rest of this winter because if it flips to be really cold over the next couple of weeks and then stays cold for the remainder of this winter, then gas inventories will have been depleted quite far and that will means that Germany, its utilities going to spend most of next year. We’re filling the inventories again without any Russian gas probably. So that could be a problem. But as so far, we estimate now that even if it turns quite cold again that Germany also should be right next winter gas mentors will be refilled. The LG, the liquefied to-ship gas is now coming to Germany, and will supply has been secured, but it’s going to be expensive and that is going to be a problem for next year because energy prices will remain high.
But there has been this looming threat of rationing, at least for maybe late winter or late in the fall, I should say. That’s sort of gone away so far. At the same time, have we seen that people have been responding to this threat that they’ve been saving, especially businesses and households? What have we seen there? Have there been attempts to really pull back?
-That happened. I’ve been quite impressive and intense here and I think that deserves mention. And so, households have definitely tried to reduce consumption until it got really cold because it gets cold, you need to heat. That it’s a matter of life. But households have reduced consumption versus their normal levels and so have industry, most companies that we work with and that we talk to. Have made really active plans to reduce their consumption immediately and buy as much as possible without reducing the industrial output, IE causing a recession, So this is one of the major successes in probably avoiding rationing this winter is its reduction in consumption by industry and households.
We saw a story there before we came to you about a brickmaker who depended upon gas. Should rationing take place? And we can’t say to what extent it would take place, but how devastating would that be to a large industrial economy here in Germany?
this is a risk because especially small to mid-sized companies that have less space to save money there but less of a cash cushion and they can’t just shut down for a few weeks if their family-owned that this is this is your life and that is a risk. And of course, for energy-intensive businesses like you mentioned the brick makers, glass makers, and cement makers this is an issue. This is a problem. And the rationing would be a problem with for someone to shut down. But the bigger problem is probably several years of high prices that are going to hurt them and that would probably require some further government support next year.
Speaking of energy, in Germany the build-out of renewables is moving slowly, despite a new push prompted by the war in Ukraine and the country’s dependence on gas. Whether it’s rising costs or Germany’s often tenacious bureaucracy, almost everyone involved, from network operators to business owners and communities, believes things could move faster.
Germany is not known for its sunshine, and yet here near Berlin, a new solar park is being built. The approval process for the park took just six months. Could this set a precedent for renewable energy projects?
The fact is that there is still a great deal of leeway to delay individual approval procedures. rules for cultural heritage protection of 1 possibility. If there is a hill somewhere in a field that no layman would even recognize as a monument, this means that in the end there cannot be renewable development in a radius of several kilometers around it. I see that as nothing more than prevention politics and not very forward-thinking.
And what about wind power, Germany’s most important renewable energy source? This year, wind turbines with an output of around 2200 megawatts were commissioned, enough to supply around 2 million households with electricity.
Next year, 12,000 megawatts will be put out to tender. That’s the enormity of the task. The administration is going to have to shift up a gear.
Germany’s electricity grid is expanding and its snail’s pace. And this is holding up the energy transition. The government has simplified many things, but there are often problems when it comes to implementation.
until the measures take effect. We assume that, at least as far as large solar parks and large wind farms are concerned, it will take at least three to four years until they actually have an effect.
The solar park near Berlin is to start supplying electricity next year with an output of 20 megawatts. Germany is picking up the pace in the energy transition but needs to find a second gear.
