Brussels (energate) - With a view to the energy supply in the coming winter, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol and EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson warn against carelessness. Both stressed this at a hearing in the EU Parliament. "A common storage policy and a coordinated reduction of gas demand will also be necessary this year," Simson stated, while predicting a "possibly" difficult summer. There is acute drought in the Alpine region as well as in parts of France, which affects hydropower capacity. In addition, there are still problems with the French nuclear power plants. Simson wants to propose to the member states to extend the voluntary 15 per cent reduction in gas demand until next year.
Habeck: Climate change stresses energy system
Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) assesses the situation for Germany as better than a year ago. The main reason is the expansion of the LNG terminals and the fuller gas storage facilities. In addition, the expansion of renewable energies has progressed further, he said on 9 March. It is also clear that the consequences of climate change are putting the EU power system under stress. This applies in particular to nuclear energy, Habeck commented. Many nuclear power plants in France rely on cooling via river water.
Norway gas supplier number one
In 2022, the EU was primarily concerned with breaking away from Russian energy supplies and launched the Repower-EU plan to achieve this. From the EU Commission's point of view, with success: "Russia is no longer the number one gas supplier for Europe. It is Norway," Simson told the EU Parliament. LNG imports to the EU had increased by 68 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021, to 135 billion cubic metres, he stressed. In less than a year, as reported by him, the number of LNG regasification terminals had increased by eight to 23. This will increase the EU's regasification capacity from the current 178 bcm to 227 bcm by 2024, he added.
Simson appealed to EU member states that are switching to Russian LNG supplies because of the suspension of Russian pipeline gas supplies to stop signing or renewing LNG contracts with Russia. Imports of Russian LNG through the port of Zeebrugge, for example, doubled last year compared to the previous year. She clarified that there is no EU embargo on Russian natural gas or LNG so far.
Master plan for industry
The IEA is calling for more activity in the transformation of EU industry. Agency head Fatih Birol called for a master plan before the European Parliament, as the times of cheap gas and oil from Russia are definitely over for European companies and they therefore have cost disadvantages in a global comparison.
The EU Commission wants to present a net-zero industrial bill in Strasbourg on 14 March. It is part of its green industrial plan, which it presented in response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (
energate reported). The net-zero industrial law aims to create a simplified regulatory framework for the production of climate-neutral industrial products. IEA head Fatih Birol is sceptical: "Energy prices in the EU are seven times higher than in the US and the IRA there has been very successful." /rl/kw
