By Gunnar Schupelius
The gas supply is no longer sufficient to get Berlin through the coming winter. Even saving will not help us. The government has not taken any precautions and is not telling us the extent of the crisis, says Gunnar Schupelius
are we dreaming No, we are wide awake and it is indeed true: gas is becoming scarcer and scarcer. We are slipping into the worst fuel crisis since 1973.
The heating season starts in three months. It’s not long now. Until then, the reservoirs cannot be filled as it would be necessary to get through the winter. That much is certain. The supply is not secured, there is no adequate substitute for the lack of Russian natural gas.
In Berlin, the situation is known to be particularly precarious because almost two thirds of all apartments and even more offices are heated directly or indirectly with gas. Six of Berlin’s eight combined heat and power plants, which supply district heating for 1.2 million households, have been converted from coal to gas in recent years in order to come closer to the “climate goals”.
Politicians have issued the slogan “savings” for the coming winter. There are no better ideas. “Gas consumption must continue to fall,” says the completely helpless Federal Minister of Economics Habeck (Greens).
The 18-degree target should be targeted for this. The general recommendation is not to heat the rooms above this temperature. But it won’t be enough for that either, it will come down to 15 degrees. And there will be families who can no longer afford heating.
The health ministers are philosophizing these days about how dangerous the corona infections could become in autumn and what measures should be taken as a result: mask requirement? contact bans?
They didn’t see the signs of the times. You had better think about the health damage that the energy crisis will bring, not only because of the cold in the homes, but also in terms of the food supply, which depends entirely on gas. Problems are foreseeable that could affect us far more than the virus.
We rub our eyes in surprise. What world did we wake up in now? There is no national gas reserve at all, which was previously only known to insiders. In the Merkel era, how could one make provisions so badly, live so carelessly every day?
The gas storage tanks were sold to Russia and were not sufficiently filled last winter. After the start of the war against Ukraine, the German government was in shock for three months and watched with wide eyes as Putin turned off the lines one by one.
Nobody knew what to do: Chancellor Scholz phoned the President of Colombia and asked for hard coal. Economics Minister Habeck traveled to Qatar and asked for liquid gas. Berlin’s Senator for Economic Affairs set up a “task force” to monitor the situation on the energy market.
And now panic is setting in: Coal-fired power plants, which were scheduled to be shut down long ago, are to be restarted so that gas turbines can be taken offline. The Bundestag is currently preparing the “Act on the Provision of Replacement Power Plants to Reduce Gas Consumption” (Printed Paper 20/2356).
The energy transition has completely collapsed and will be reversed overnight. German politicians believed they could dispense with coal and nuclear power and replace them with Russian natural gas. Nord Stream 1 and 2 were relocated for this purpose.
The dream is over! We are ruled by sleepwalkers. The train drives towards the wall, the train drivers are silent.
Nothing can be heard from the Rotes Rathaus either. The energy supply would actually be a matter for the boss! Especially if it is no longer secured.
How cold will the winter get? Will there be empty shelves? Tell us the truth! Or don’t you dare?
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]
