Gascade gas compressor station in Eisleben. File photoBERLIN, May 6 The German Association for Industrial Energy and Electricity (VIK) called for the use of «all alternatives to natural gas» in the country's electricity generation against the backdrop of hostilities in Ukraine, it was said in a spread on Friday «There is an urgent need to immediately reduce natural gas consumption in order to conserve reserves and reach the maximum possible storage level by autumn 2022,» the message says.
Germany says gas and electricity prices will continue to riseAccording to VIK CEO Christian Seifert, quoted in the announcement, «it is alarming that more than two months after the start of the war in Germany, there is still no visible effort to increase electricity generation at power plants that do not run on natural gas» to reduce the consumption of this type of fuel. Seifert stressed that we are talking about the security of supplying the population and the economy in the current crisis, and not about a fundamental doubt about the goal of the German government — to achieve climate neutrality by 2045, which «remains in force.» The association proposes to postpone the decommissioning of hard coal continue to operate all non-natural gas power plants that are currently on standby, reschedule the shutdown of lignite power plants until the end of 2024 – until then, according to the German government, it is planned to end dependence on Russian gas supplies. Given the situation that has worsened in the meantime, the planned decommissioning of the last nuclear power plants at the end of the year should be critically re-examined, as they are scheduled to be replaced by natural gas-fired power plants. ions without heat extraction,» the message reads.
