Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Germany has been warning its population: efforts will have to be made. Russia announced this week that it was going to reduce its exports via Nord stream I to 20%. To help Berlin, the 27 decided on Tuesday in Brussels to reduce their gas consumption by 15% over the next eight months in a coordinated fashion.
Sobriety will therefore be the key word for winter 2022, across the Rhine. Except that not all Germans are ready to sacrifice comfort. They don’t want to spend the winter in the cold, for lack of gas in the radiators. The German press has noticed that for the past few weeks the sale of a product has greatly exceeded the standards: electric heaters. Online, in stores, it’s a rush for hot new gold. A large chain indicates that it sold twice as many radiators in the first six months of the year and +500% in July compared to last year, spotted International mail.
These figures are far from being anecdotal. In Germany, one in two homes is heated with gas. If millions of people connect electric heating this winter, the network risks being saturated and subject to power cuts. In the daythe Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a specialist worries: “Even if only 10% of gas fireplaces were additionally heated with electricity, i.e. two million homes, this would significantly increase the peak load on the network”.
Austria does not seem to want to play the solidarity card, despite calls from Europe. However, it is home to gas reservoirs, which it normally shares with Germany. One of the reservoirs, that of Haidach, is near the border and usually supplies Bavaria. Vienna has decided to divert its destination and connect it to its own network, the newspaper explains. Die Suddeutsche Zeitung. Ditto for all gas storage facilities in Austria, they will have to be connected to its national network. “This decision is valid as law”said Austrian Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler.
However, there are solutions. Across the Rhine, as in France, there is talk of having more use of coal-fired power plants. And, something unthinkable a few years ago, the nuclear issue is being debated! While Angela Merkel had firmly launched a nuclear-free policy after the Fukushima crisis, the lines have moved. The last three plants could remain open after the end of the year, when they were to close permanently.
Even the Greens, totally opposed to nuclear power, are ready to debate it. A decision should be made “in the next weeks”. A glance at the neighbors can give ideas. “Those who have decided to stay in nuclear energy”like France, “are not necessarily dumber” than the Germans, analyzes the leader of the German conservatives. In the end, Germany always wins. At the energy level, this time it got off to a bad start.