Worries over winter fuel crisis* Move at odds with climate goals * Italy set to take action
Germany will significantly increase its
use of coal to preserve energy supplies
ahead of the winter as Russian cuts to
gas exports threaten shortfalls in
Europe’slargest economy.
The German government said yesterday it would pass emergency laws to
reopen mothballed coal plants for electricity generation and auction gas supplies to industry to incentivise businesses to curb consumption.
Themoveillustrated the depthof concern in Berlin over possible gas shortagesin thewintermonths.
“This is bitter but, in this situation,
essential tolowering the use of gas,” said
German economic minister Robert
Habeck,amemberof theGreen party.
Russia cut capacity on the main gas
export pipeline to Germany this week
by60 per cent.Westernofficialsare convinced that Moscow is weaponising its
gas exports in response to EU sanctions
over thewarinUkraine.
Italy, which has also seen gas supplies
from Russia fall, is expected to
announce emergency measures in the
coming daysif suppliesare not restored.
Habeck said Berlin was working on a
newlaw to bring back temporarily up to
10 gigawatts of idle coal-fired power
plants for as long as two years. That
would increase Germany’s dependence
on coal for electricity generation by up
toa third.
“The situation is serious,” said
Habeck. “It is obviously Putin’s strategy
to upset us, to drive prices upwards, and
to divide us . . . We won’t allow this.”
The plan is at odds with Germany’s
climate policy: it aims to phase out coal
by 2030. Germany’s three remaining
active nuclear power plants are scheduled to go off the grid by the end of this
year. Theirlifespanwill not be extended
as the government has concluded that
the technical and safety hurdles are too
high.
Before Russia’s invasion in February,
Germany imported 55 per cent of its gas
from Russia. In recent days, Russia’s
state-controlled gas exporter Gazprom
has reduced supply volumes through
the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, blaming
Canadian sanctions that left pumping
equipment maintained by Siemens
Energy strandedinMontreal.
Germany andits alliesin Europe have
rejected Gazprom’s claims, arguing any
technical issue was a pretext. Gazprom
has not utilised alternative pipeline
routes to make up for the supply shortfall throughNS1.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz called
dependence on Russian energy “a mistakeofGermany’seconomic policy”and
told newswire DPA that previous governments had missed out on creating
alternative gas supply routes.
Germany plans to install four floating
liquefied natural gas terminals and has
prioritised refilling gas storage tanks
that can be usedinwinter.
“We need andwewill to do everything
to store as much gas as possible,” said
Habeck, calling it the “highest priority”
and adding that “it would really be a
tight squeezeinwinterotherwise”