Energy for the winter: German gas storage tanks are 90 percent full – despite the Russian delivery freeze

The gas storage tanks for the winter in Germany are now 90 percent full.

Energy for the winter: German gas storage tanks are 90 percent full – despite the Russian delivery freeze

The gas storage tanks for the winter in Germany are now 90 percent full. This comes from data from the European platform for gas storage (Agsi). Accordingly, the value is currently 90.7 percent. According to the regulation, it should be 95 percent by November.

Germany is supposed to get through the winter with the gas from the storage facilities despite the suspension of Russian gas deliveries. Germany currently receives natural gas via pipelines from Norway and the Netherlands, for example. By the turn of the year, the first two terminals should be in operation, where liquefied natural gas (LNG) will be made gaseous again and fed into the German grid.

According to the data from the European storage operators, which was published on the Internet on Monday evening, the storage tanks were already 90.07 percent full last Sunday. That was 0.32 percentage points more than the day before. The level information is always reported with a delay.

A ministerial regulation stipulates that the German storage facilities should be at least 95 percent full by November 1st, i.e. in six weeks. The amount of gas stored at this level roughly corresponds to nationwide consumption in January and February 2022.

The storage facilities compensate for fluctuations in gas consumption and thus form a kind of buffer system for the gas market. They are usually well filled when the heating season begins in autumn. The filling levels then decrease until spring. On cold winter days, up to 60 percent of gas consumption in Germany is covered by German storage facilities.

The federal government wants to use various measures to ensure that the gas storage tanks are as full as possible at the beginning of the heating period. Germany should be able to cope better with the total failure of Russian deliveries in winter.

According to preliminary information, the gas storage facilities in the EU were on average 85.99 percent full on Sunday. Since the spring of this year, EU-wide regulations have stipulated that storage tanks must be 80 percent full by November 1st. This goal had already been achieved at the end of August. 18 Member States have underground gas storage facilities.

The filling level of the largest German storage facility in Rehden in Lower Saxony is currently almost 75 percent. Due to planned maintenance of this storage facility, no more storage has been carried out since last Monday. The maintenance should last until next Saturday.

Watch the video: The price of gas is rising and many people are afraid of a cold winter. Quite a few of them have taken precautions and obtained mobile fan heaters as an alternative, which are operated with electricity instead of gas. But does it really save money and energy?

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