As of: 02/23/2023 4:12 p.m
The winter is slowly coming to an end and the gas storage facilities in Germany are still well stocked. Mainly because of the mild temperatures, consumption has dropped significantly. Netzagentur boss Müller is pleased.
In Germany, around 23 percent less gas was consumed last week than the average for the years 2018 to 2021. Network Agency President Klaus Müller expressed his satisfaction. “Thanks for the valuable savings,” he wrote on Twitter. This is already helping to fill the gas storage tank for the winter of 2023/24.
Nevertheless, the Federal Network Agency repeated its daily reminder that economical consumption remains important.
In detail, the gas consumption of the industry in the 7th calendar week was 22 percent below the average. Households and businesses reduced it by 24 percent compared to the reference period.
The network agency pointed out that temperatures in the past week were 2.7 degrees above average. Adjusted for temperature, consumption was 15.3 percent below the reference value.
Levels in the gas storage tanks only drop slightly
The comparatively mild temperatures in the past week were also reflected in the filling levels of the gas storage facilities, which mostly fell only slightly. In the middle of the week, the total fill level was 71.4 percent. That was almost 0.2 percentage points less than the day before, as from Data from the European gas storage association GIE emerged. The largest German storage facility in Rehden, Lower Saxony, was 86.6 percent full. Across the EU, the filling level was around 63.4 percent, 0.3 points less than the previous day.
The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a buffer system for the market. On the morning of November 14, a fill level of 100 percent was recorded. On February 1, the storage tanks were 78.6 percent, almost twice as full as required by the Energy Industry Act on this date.
Netzagentur is concerned about the coming winter
The network agency is still concerned about the energy supply in the coming winter. “I don’t want to speak of optimism for the winter of 23/24 just yet,” Müller told the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. “We also have to take precautions for a very cold winter,” he continued. Private households and companies must continue to save gas.
Against this background, Müller had partially defended the accelerated expansion of the LNG infrastructure in Germany against criticism. Provisions must also be made in the event “that a terminal or another pipeline fails”. The needs of neighboring countries must also be taken into account. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen “whether all the terminals currently under discussion will ultimately be realized or fully utilized”.
The Federal Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW) is also concerned about the time after the summer. “With a view to the next winter 2023/2024, we are not yet completely over the mountain,” Kerstin Andreae, head of the association, told the newspapers. She called for gas supplies to be diversified even more, for the LNG infrastructure to be expanded and for energy to be saved.
In addition, the BDEW general manager called for more speed in the expansion of renewables. “It is important that we loosen the shackles of planning and approval law this year so that renewable energies can really take off and the grid expansion required for this can also succeed.”