As of: March 26, 2024, 5:00 a.m
By: Lisa Mayerhofer
Comments
Press
Split
According to a paper from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, gas networks are to be shut down and dismantled.
Network operators are already thinking about how they should manage this.
The potential for conflict is high.
Augsburg – According to the Climate Protection Act, Germany should become climate neutral by 2045.
This also means phasing out fossil fuels such as gas.
The Federal Ministry of Economics therefore expects the existing gas distribution network to be downsized.
Network operators are also already considering how they should implement any shutdown of the gas networks.
Because operating the networks is expensive.
Heat transition: Habeck assumes that gas networks will shrink
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) expects a significantly reduced gas network by 2045: “Gas distribution networks for the current natural gas supply will then no longer be needed in their current form and scope,” says a 23-page ideas paper that the ministry recently published published on his website.
The
Bild
newspaper reported about it.
Among other things, it must be clarified in good time how further expansion into natural gas supply can be avoided and “under what conditions existing gas network connections may be separated and dismantled,” the paper continues.
It is crucial that “a continuous, affordable energy supply to end consumers” is guaranteed during the changeover.
If natural gas networks were shut down, connected customers would need sufficient advance notice.
Pipes for a connection to the German gas network are being laid: According to a paper from the Ministry of Economics, gas networks are to be shut down and dismantled.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
Augsburg announces end of natural gas deliveries to gas customers – in ten years
Customers of Stadtwerke Augsburg have now received this: According to a report in the Handelsblatt
, gas customers receive
letters that announce an end to the supply of natural gas - in around ten years.
“80 percent of customers received the announcement well,” said Ulrich Längle, sales manager at Stadtwerke Augsburg, to the newspaper.
“But 20 percent have only recently invested in a new gas heating system and are not so easily convinced to switch in ten years.” This also shows that the topic offers a lot of potential for conflict.
That's why the Augsburg public utilities sought legal advice before informing their customers about the shutdown of the gas networks.
“We only want and are allowed to announce an end to the gas supply to customers if we offer an alternative heat supply and build in a sufficient time component,” says Längle.
Other network operators are also examining gas network infrastructure
The other energy suppliers are not yet going as far as Stadtwerke Augsburg, but a spokesman for the Essen group Eon told the
Handelsblatt
: “We, like many other network operators, are systematically checking which parts of the line infrastructure are no longer needed in the future.” And will be Will gas customers be refused or even terminated from network connections at some point in the future?
The spokesman says: “Not connecting systems to the grid in the future is already provided for in the EU gas and H2 internal market package and, in our opinion, logical in view of the goal of climate neutrality.”
My news
“That’s disrespectful”: Civil servants earn as little as citizens’ benefit recipients – and the traffic lights are watching
Sweater, park bench, daffodils: The hidden messages in Princess Kate's video reading
Seriously injured ski jumping ace with devastating bedside diagnosis
Skoda's novelty with a combustion engine impresses fans - read “It's sustainable”.
Insolvency of traditional companies after 150 years: 80 employees lose their jobs
Weather forecast for Germany is tough: Meteorologist expects Sahara heat at Easter
Many gas customers could be affected by this.
The paper from the Ministry of Economic Affairs states: “The extent to which these gas distribution networks will still be needed after 2045 will depend, among other things, on the extent to which they can and should be used to distribute hydrogen.” This is possible through sometimes complex changes.
“Accordingly, it can be assumed that the length of the gas distribution networks will decrease significantly from the current 500,000 km.”
The ministry assumes that many customers will be supplied by heating networks or use electricity-powered heat pumps in the future.
“A decentralized hydrogen supply, especially for heating customers or individual households, currently seems unlikely due to, among other things, the high costs of hydrogen in the heating sector and, above all, because of the limited quantities available.
In the commercial and industrial sectors too, the consumption of natural gas will have to be replaced by other energy sources and – as far as possible – electrification or connection to a heating network will also take place.”
Can district heating completely replace gas?
This is also planned in the Bavarian city: “We will reach around 70 percent of the population in Augsburg via heating networks by 2040,” says Längle to the
Handelsblatt
.
The problem: The remaining 30 percent need a different solution, such as pellet heating or a heat pump.
Here, too, there is a high potential for conflict - not all gas heating owners are likely to want to make the change.
The question is whether they will then have no other choice.
In any case, according to the newspaper, Längle from Stadtwerke Augsburg hopes that the Ministry of Economic Affairs' discussion paper will produce clear guidelines that will give his letters a legal basis - and that he can actually shut down his gas networks on time in order to become climate neutral.
With material from dpa