gas
Habeck speaks of blindness in energy policy
Federal Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck is promoting diversification in the energy supply. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The Federal Minister of Economics, Robert Habeck, is promoting new filling specifications for gas storage facilities and an FDP member of parliament blames the Union for the heavy dependence on Russia.
Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck has campaigned in the Bundestag for planned new specifications for filling quantities in gas storage facilities. “In the past, we didn’t prepare well enough for crisis situations,” said Habeck in the Bundestag.
Politicians were blind to the fact that energy policy is not just about the economy, but also about geopolitics and power politics. In addition to the storage requirements, there is also a need for diversification in the energy supply and savings, especially in fossil fuels.
The CDU MP Fabian Gramling welcomed the project in principle, but demanded further steps such as a later phase-out of nuclear power. Steffen Kotré from the AfD accused Habeck of not having seriously considered extending the term.
New defaults
The new specifications planned by the traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP are intended to secure the gas supply and curb price fluctuations. According to Habeck’s ideas, they should come into force on May 1st. Specifically, the so-called market area manager, a subsidiary of all gas pipeline operators in Germany, is to be obliged to gradually fill the gas storage facilities up to 90 percent by December 1, 2022. The filling level should reach 65 percent by August 1st and 80 percent by October 1st. Users who do not use their booked storage capacities should lose them.
With a volume of around 24 billion cubic meters, Germany has the largest natural gas storage volume in the European Union, according to the draft. In recent years, the storage facilities have been sufficiently filled. “In the winter of 2021/22, a unique, extraordinary situation arose: the reservoirs in Germany had the lowest filling levels in the last 15 years.” This drove the prices up.
The FDP MP Michael Kruse made serious accusations against the Union in particular: “We got into this situation because there were no regulations and, in particular, no functioning market supervision.” The sale of critical infrastructure has been allowed and has become heavily dependent on Russia. The Russian state-owned company Gazprom operates two storage facilities in Germany via a subsidiary, including the largest in Germany in Rehden, Lower Saxony. Ralph Lenkert from the left accused Gazprom of a “devious pricing policy” and a deliberate reduction in storage capacity before winter and called for more state control in the energy sector.