A new document from the Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Network Agency now provides an overview of how electricity, gas and coal are doing in Germany. The title: “Situation picture energy supply”. This is to record the current status of how the current energy supply in Germany really is. The paper is available to ” Bild “.
The paper shows that the situation on the electricity market is good at the moment. The security of supply is “very high”, according to the report. In order to be able to continue to guarantee this, Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently gave his power to extend the nuclear power plant. The Emsland, Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 nuclear reactors will remain online until April 2023. More than seven percent of the total requirement is generated from nuclear energy. For comparison, 21.7 percent is made from lignite, according to the report.
A problem arises with regard to the nuclear energy supply in France. On the one hand, because France’s power grid operator RTE sees the security of supply in the country before the winter crisis may be at risk because of the strikes in the nuclear power plants. And on the other hand, it is currently “at a historic low”. The reason is apparently technical problems. This also has consequences for Germany.
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France is trying to compensate for the problem with nuclear power with gas-fired power plants, according to the paper reported by “Bild”: “Even if the security of supply in the electricity system is fully guaranteed, gas consumption for electricity generation is also increasing in Germany because France is using a lot more electricity imported from its neighboring countries.”
The gas situation in Germany is increasingly easing. Germany further increased its natural gas stocks over the weekend. Gas storage capacity was 95.63 percent on Saturday, down from 95.28 percent on Friday, according to data published online by Europe’s gas infrastructure operator (GIE) on Monday. The experts from the Federal Ministry of Economics also assess the situation regarding security of supply as “guaranteed”, but it is also “tense”, the report goes on to say.
“Floating storage and regasification units” are now to be rented, three of which will be ready for use this winter. According to the energy experts, gas prices will also fall rapidly again.
In the government paper, which is available to “Bild”, the experts assess the security of the coal supply as “tense but manageable”. Although there is currently a coal embargo against Russia, there is enough coal to keep the fuel supply going. Apparently there should be problems with the so-called “internal logistics”. The reason is the low water levels in the Rhine. The consequence: when transporting the hard coal, the ships cannot be fully loaded.
The report also states that the new coal-fired power plants in southern Germany will not be filled “until winter”. The operators should therefore “develop an optimal use of power plants for the winter”, according to the experts’ demand. The result is, therefore, many “power plant start-ups”, which greatly increases the risk of “power plant failures”.
Meanwhile, Germany remains dependent on Russia for oil. In August 2022, Germany is said to have obtained 34 percent of crude oil from Russia. It was around 40 percent for diesel fuel. That means: if the imports were stopped, it could quickly become scarce for Germany. The experts expect that the supply would then only last for around “three months”.
