FRANKFURT (Dow Jones) — The Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) has analyzed how much natural gas from Russia can be replaced in the short term. “As of today”, around 50 percent can be replaced or substituted at short notice, according to Kerstin Andreae, Chairwoman of the BDEW main management. “That corresponds to about 20 percent of the annual gas requirement in Germany”.
The energy industry is working flat out to become independent of fossil raw materials and thus also of Russian imports in the medium to long term, explains Andreae.
In the period from January to March, the share of Russian natural gas in imports to Germany was estimated at 40 percent. If this proportion were to remain, based on the determined total reduction potential, around half of the Russian gas deliveries to Germany could be replaced or saved in the short term.
“We can only partially replace the import of Russian natural gas as of today,” says the BDEW chairwoman. “Alternatives such as liquefied natural gas can help fill the gap. Expansion of domestic production is limited or uncertain.”
According to the BDEW, short-term substitution and reduction potentials exist in households, in industry and in commerce, in trade and services (TCS), but are limited. In the field of power generation, the reduction potential is 36 percent of the natural gas consumption of power plants and in industry. The use of gas-fired power plants cannot be dispensed with entirely, since this would jeopardize the supply of heat to households and businesses. In industry in particular, the short- to medium-term substitution potential is low at 8 percent of total industrial natural gas consumption.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 18, 2022 08:19 ET (12:19 GMT)