Status: 01/24/2023 10:21 am
The head of the International Energy Agency fears that Europe’s governments are “a little too happy” with the way the energy crisis has turned out so far. There are still risks for the gas supply.
The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, warns the Europeans to prematurely dismiss the risk of a supply crisis given falling gas prices. “The next winter worries me,” Birol told the “Handelsblatt”. “No Russian gas, China’s comeback as an importer, little increase in supply: These three factors will make next winter a challenge.” He fears that many governments are “a little too happy” about the relatively mild course of the crisis so far. Europe must continue to reduce gas consumption.
Criticism of the German nuclear phase-out
The head of the IEA, which advises industrialized countries on energy issues, criticized Germany’s nuclear phase-out in this context: “I wish there was the possibility of significantly extending the terms if necessary.” On the other hand, Birol gave a positive assessment of the fact that the expansion of wind power and solar systems had accelerated. “Above all, the acceleration of the planning process pays off.”
However, the energy expert fears that Europe could fall into new dependencies. “It was the wrong energy policy to rely on just one country for so long when it came to a strategically important energy source like gas,” he said, referring to Russia.
Great dependency on China
“If we now look at renewable energies, we see a similar picture,” says Birol. Around 70 percent of all batteries for electric cars are made in China. Europe must find new suppliers and start mining critical minerals itself.
The dependency on Chinese suppliers is enormous for so-called rare earths, which are required for the production of batteries or semiconductors, among other things. As the Federal Statistical Office announced today, around 5,300 tons of these raw materials worth 49.3 million euros were imported into Germany from January to November 2022. 65.9 percent came from China.
“For some of the rare earths, the proportion of imports from the Far East was significantly higher,” according to the statisticians. 94.4 percent of the metals scandium and yttrium were imported from China. 75.4 percent of compounds of lanthanum, neodymium, praseodymium and samarium came from the People’s Republic.