Austria remains at the early warning level in the energy sector. For the time being, the alarm level will not be declared, says Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens). However, the government is now digging deeper into measures to reduce dependence on gas.
Large companies with high energy consumption, such as energy suppliers and industrial companies, are advised to convert their gas supply, which some are already doing. That would mean that power plants would use oil instead of gas, for example. This is a realistic option, especially for district heating plants. The government would fund this, Gewessler says. This means that savings in the single-digit terawatt hour (TWh) range are possible, according to the ministry.
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The minister calls on private households to prepare for the heating season with energy-saving measures. Bleeding and maintaining heaters, sealing windows and doors and similar small things could help to reduce consumption by up to 15 percent.
“The situation is difficult and exhausting and undoubtedly uncertain. And I cannot guarantee how things will continue and I cannot predict how Vladimir Putin will behave,” said the minister on Tuesday after advising the government and communicating with energy-intensive companies.
Gas supplies from Russia dropped seven days ago. The government then decided to monitor the following week closely. At the weekend, the amount of gas that could be stored rose from 100 to 350 gigawatt hours (GWh). Currently, no electricity is generated from gas either, because generation from renewable energy sources such as water is sufficient, says the head of E-Control, Wolfgang Urbantschitsch.
The next challenge will be the routine maintenance of Russia’s Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, scheduled for 10 days starting July 11. During this time until July 21st, no gas will flow to Germany. What will happen after that is currently not foreseeable, says Gewessler. “I am in contact with the other EU energy ministers and we agree that there is a risk that Putin will continue to use gas as a weapon.” It is therefore important to prevent the consequences of an interruption and to reduce dependence on gas, precisely through gas substitution.
According to Urbantschitsch, the domestic storage facilities are currently 46 percent full. According to Gewessler, this is 43.9 terawatt hours or half the annual requirement. However, a few TWh were accounted for by the Haidach storage facility, part of which is used to supply Germany.
Source: Nachrichten
