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“Every kilowatt hour that we don’t use will help us this winter”

“Every kilowatt hour that we don’t use will help us this winter”

The weather is not yet indicative, but winter and low temperatures are imminent. The Austrian Power Grid (APG) took a look at how secure Austria’s power supply is in view of the tense situation in the energy sector. APG operates the Austrian transmission grid.

“We looked at whether there was enough electricity and grid capacity,” said Gerhard Christiner, APG’s CTO. 22 percent of the electricity consumed in Austria is generated from gas, 62 percent comes from renewable sources. 16 percent of the consumed amount would have to be imported: “Austria is an electricity importing country.” There are problems with various European electricity producers this year: France has, as reported, problems with its nuclear power plants, only half of the amounts usually produced are available. A new nuclear power plant is to go online in Finland, but it is questionable whether this can happen this year.

Whether the German coal-fired power plants can produce electricity as planned is also questionable due to the low water levels in the rivers. According to Christiner, Poland, a major coal-fired power producer, depends on coal imports from Russia. A third of the available gas storage capacity is needed for power generation: Here, too, the supply is fluctuating. In addition, according to Christiner, increased power consumption is to be expected, for example because private individuals would install more radiant heaters.

No increased blackout risk

Based on this, APG created three scenarios: The first scenario was based on the fact that there are no problems with the German coal-fired power plants, but reduced output in France and Finland. Consumption does not increase. “This scenario is the most likely. Then there will be no load shortage.”

On the basis of increasing consumption and the assumption that less gas than usual is available for electricity generation, APG has also calculated a “critical” and a “very critical” scenario. In these cases, there would be insufficient load – this means that more electricity is demanded than is supplied. Three or five percent of the electricity usually consumed would then not be available.

Extreme events, such as extremely cold temperatures over a longer period of time, would of course change the situation.

Environment and Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler described the coming winter as “challenging but doable”. Therefore, it is necessary to use electricity sparingly: “Every kilowatt hour that is not consumed will help us through this winter.” Gewessler does not currently see an increased risk of a blackout, i.e. a large-scale power failure.

Source: Nachrichten

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