Berlin, June 19, (dpa/GNA) - German Economy Minister Robert Habeck is planning additional measures to reduce gas consumption and replace supplies in view of lower gas deliveries from Russia, according to plans seen by dpa.
The use of gas for power generation and industry is to be reduced and the filling of storage facilities is to be prioritized ahead of the winter.
The government is providing billions in funds to finance the measures, dpa learned from government circles.
In addition, Habeck – a Green member of Germany’s centre-left coalition government – said that more coal-fired power plants are to be used to make up the shortfall.
In a five-page paper obtained by dpa, Habeck says that “gas consumption must continue to fall, and more gas must go into the storage facilities, otherwise it will be really tight in winter.”
Habeck has also floated steps to reduce private energy consumption, such as a cap on domestic heating. But Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was against discussing “individual measures” without having an overall plan in place, in an interview with dpa on Friday.
Russia’s state-owned energy firm Gazprom has significantly reduced the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline in recent days, justifying it by saying there had been delays in the repair of compressor turbines by the company Siemens Energy.
Habeck has said the move was politically motivated. The missing parts can still be replaced, and gas storage facilities were still being filled albeit at higher prices, he said.
The government plans an additional credit line of €15 billion ($15.7 billion) via the state bank KfW, according to dpa sources.
Habeck is also planning to introduce a gas auction model this summer. This is to offer incentives to industrial gas consumers to save gas. In essence, the idea is that industrial customers who can do without gas will reduce their consumption in exchange for financial compensation, and make the gas available for storage.
Meanwhile, the Free Democrats (FDP) – the third party in the government coalition – called for Germany to revisit its ban on fracking, a controversial process by which oil and gas is extracted from shale rock using chemicals and pressure.
“As scientific studies show, under modern security standards fracking causes no relevant environmental damage,” the FDP’s parliamentary director Torsten Herbst told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
Those importing it from the US cannot oppose the promotion of safe fracking in Germany, Herbst argued.
GNA