That said Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) in the “ZiB 2 am Sonntag” after a “small crisis cabinet” in which she discussed with Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP), Economics Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) and experts on securing the energy supply.
The Mellach district heating plant south of Graz was the last coal-fired power plant in Austria. In the spring of 2020, electricity was generated there from coal for the last time. Now it is to be converted again so that it can burn coal again in an emergency when there is not enough gas available. The federal government had agreed this with the Verbund group, the Federal Chancellery announced. The conversion will take months, said Gewessler, and the Verbund group is working flat out on it.
The aim is to reduce dependence on Russia so as not to be open to blackmail, said the minister. “It will take years for Austria.”
On Sunday morning, OMV reported that, as in the previous days, around half less gas was being delivered to Austria than usual. The demand for gas is currently rather low, however, missing quantities could easily be replaced by purchases on the spot market, explained OMV. The gas supply is secured, the OMV gas storage facilities in Austria with a total capacity of 25,289 GWh are already 64 percent full.
The Ministry of Climate Protection emphasized that Austria had already stored 39 percent of its annual consumption in gas storage in mid-June. This puts Austria in second place in the EU when it comes to stockpiling. The storage capacity of around 95 terawatt hours (TWh) corresponds to the need for a whole year, giving Austria one of the highest storage capacities in the EU. In the summer months, the gas requirement in Austria is around 4 to 6 terawatt hours, in the winter months 10 to 12 terawatt hours. The aim is to have the storage tanks 80 percent full by November 1, 2022.
Gas with an energy content of more than 38 TWh is currently stored in the gas storage facilities on Austrian territory – without the Haidach storage facility, which is only connected to the German gas network, it is more than 33 TWh.
Gewessler rejected criticism from the Chamber of Commerce that there were no emergency plans for the event of a gas supply stop. There are certainly criteria for energy control measures. However, the lists of affected companies cannot be published. “These are listed companies. I can’t name these companies here on TV or in public, that would have a direct impact on the stock market price.”
All the prerequisites for the introduction of the postponed CO2 pricing in October have been created, said the minister.
Source: Nachrichten
