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Gas storage in Germany: Buffer for quantities and prices
View of a pressure indicator on the premises of VNG AG’s underground gas storage facility in Teutschenthal. Photo: Christian Modla/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Germany has the largest storage capacities for natural gas in Central and Western Europe. According to the industry association Ines, they hold gas with an energy content of around 255 terawatt hours.
Germany has the largest storage capacities for natural gas in Central and Western Europe. According to the industry association Ines, they hold gas with an energy content of around 255 terawatt hours.
This corresponds to about a quarter of the annual gas consumption in Germany (around 1000 terawatt hours). According to the new storage law, they should be 90 percent full by November 1st. Last Monday, the storage tanks were almost 39 percent full – and the trend is rising.
The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a kind of buffer system for the gas market. The storage tanks are usually well filled at the beginning of the heating period in autumn, and the levels then decrease by spring. On cold winter days, up to 60 percent of gas consumption in Germany is covered by German storage facilities.
In Germany there are 47 underground storage facilities at 33 locations operated by around 25 companies. The largest storage operator is the energy group Uniper, which accounts for around a quarter of Germany’s storage capacity. However, the largest individual storage facility is operated by a subsidiary of Gazprom Germania, which has been managed in trust by the Federal Network Agency since the beginning of April. It is located in Rehden in Lower Saxony. It accounts for around a fifth of German capacity.