The gas storage facilities in Austria are 80.37 percent full. The target was thus achieved a month earlier than originally promised. Austria is well prepared for the winter with the amount of gas, Carola Millgramm, head of the gas department at E-Control, said in a webinar on Tuesday. The high and highly fluctuating gas prices are still “an enormous challenge”. Households and companies must continue to use gas sparingly.
At the beginning of November, E-Control will be able to say how much stored gas has also been secured for use in Austria. However, Millgramm estimates it is “a good half” of the amount stored. In any case, there are many parameters to take into account – the gas storage facility in Haidach, Upper Austria, is currently only connected to the German gas network. But Austria also has gas stored in Slovakia.
In previous years, Austria used 60 to 65 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas in the winter months – from October to March. In any case, the federal government will have stockpiled a strategic reserve of 20 TWh by November, which will be available in Austria in case of emergency. About 7 TWh of this has already been stored – at a price of 124.5 euros per megawatt hour. Another 12.6 TWh has already been purchased and will be stored on November 1 – at a price of 234 euros/megawatt hour. According to Millgramm, the total costs amounted to 3.95 billion euros. However, these quantities may only be released in an emergency.
LPG as a replacement
However, Austria should not depend solely on gas storage facilities. Gas is still flowing from Russia to Austria, albeit less than in previous years. From the current perspective, there would also be gas inflows via Germany and Italy if there were a winter supply freeze from Russia, apart from the stored quantities – mainly thanks to liquefied gas (LNG) and deliveries from Norway. Since the start of the current crisis, Austria has mainly replaced the missing Russian gas with liquid gas, according to Millgramm.
Millgramm recalls that Austria is currently in the first of four phases of energy management. However, preparations for a gas shortage emergency were already in full swing. In the final stage, the Ministry of Climate Protection can allocate gas, ie cut off the gas to individual customers. It is clearly arranged that households, but also social services such as hospitals, must primarily be supplied with gas. Gas-fired power stations that generate district heating and electricity also receive preferential treatment. But above all, certain major industry customers have to consider gas cut-offs in this case – but this has to be done in an orderly manner. Market mechanisms should continue to operate for as long as possible.
Even as households are protected, Millgramm is calling for energy savings wherever possible. Because the less gas households consume, the longer the economy can sustain production. She does not consider a legal obligation to save energy necessary, if only for cost reasons, the motivation is high. “I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think about how to save gas,” says Millgramm.
A particular concern of E-Control is the supply in Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The two federal states are not connected to the Eastern Austrian gas network and are supplied via Germany. The “solidarity agreement” with Germany to secure the gas supplies of the two federal states is about to be concluded – but was never up for discussion, according to Millgramm.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
