Europe preparing for natural gas rationing, signals shift back to coal ahead of 2022/23 winter season
As the energy crisis in Europe continues deepening, the EU countries that depend on Russian gas have signaled a shift back to coal and started triggering emergency plans that could lead to natural gas rationing ahead of the 2022/23 winter season.
As much of western Europe struggled with a severe heatwave and increased natural gas consumption as a result, Russian energy giant Gazprom has cut natural gas supplies via Nord Stream pipeline by 40%. The company said their decision was made due to technical issues caused by Germany’s Siemens failure to return gas compressor units after they were sent for repair.
Nord Stream is the longest sub-sea pipeline in the world, supplying Germany – and the rest of Europe – with natural gas from Russia. In June 2017, Germany, France, Austria and the European Commission criticized the United States Senate over new sanctions against Russia targeting the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline, stating that the United States was threatening Europe’s energy supplies.1
While EU leaders said the Russian move to cut back gas flow to Europe was politically motivated, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated that the reason is purely technical.
As a result, the Netherlands and Denmark announced they are working on emergency plans to deal with disruptions.
The Netherlands said this week it would activate the ‘early warning’ phase of an energy crisis plan and lifted a cap on production by coal-fired power plants.2
Energy officials in Denmark’s said that if the situation escalates, natural gas would be rationed and limited to some industrial users so consumers could have winter heating.3
Germany and Austria have already triggered emergency plans that could lead to gas rationing.
Additionally, Germany has also lifted caps on coal energy production while Austria, which shut its last coal power plant in 2022, said it’s converting a gas power plant to run on coal.4
Italy said they are considering declaring a state of alert on energy, which would allow them to start rationing gas to industrial users.
Similar decisions are expected to be made in other European countries before the winter season. This could lead to continued economic destruction and pave the way for serious social unrest.
To conclude, the European Union continues deteriorating and the population is now increasingly aware that this energy crisis will ultimately end up on their shoulders and seriously destabilize the union.
With the summer now in full effect, those aware of the situation are urging residents to prepare for the coming winter as one of the worst since WW2.
References:
1 Nord Stream – Wikipedia – Accessed June 22, 2022
2 UPDATE 2-Netherlands activates energy crisis plan, removes cap on coal plants – Reuters – June 20, 2022
3 The Danish Energy Agency declares “Early Warning” – ENS – June 20, 2022
4 Europe is drawing up emergency plans to switch back to coal after Russia cuts natural-gas supplies – Business Insider – July 21, 2022
Featured image credit: Djordje Kostic
If you value what we do here, create your ad-free account and support our journalism.
Your support makes a difference
Dear valued reader,
We hope that our website has been a valuable resource for you.
The reality is that it takes a lot of time, effort, and resources to maintain and grow this website. We rely on the support of readers like you to keep providing high-quality content.
If you have found our website to be helpful, please consider making a contribution to help us continue to bring you the information you need. Your support means the world to us and helps us to keep doing what we love.
Support us by choosing your support level – Silver, Gold or Platinum. Other support options include Patreon pledges and sending us a one-off payment using PayPal.
Thank you for your consideration. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Teo Blašković
Commenting rules and guidelines
We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:
We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.