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The upper and lower houses of Germany's Parliament (Bundesrat and Bundestag, respectively) both approved on Friday the use of more coal-fired power plants to replace gas use in electricity generation.
The decision came in response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the severe cutback of Russian gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Germany aims to use less gas to produce electricity and to refill its storage facilities.
"The situation on the gas market is tense," Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck said in a statement.
The aim is to "maintain basic supplies in the coming winter and keep the energy market running as long as possible, despite high prices and growing risks," Habeck added.
The Bundestag's decision to temporarily bring coal-fired power plants back "comes late, but it is the right one," Siegfried Russwurm, president of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), said in a statement on Friday.
Gas supply in Germany is currently stable overall but "a worsening of the situation cannot be ruled out," the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) said in its latest update. The country's gas storage facilities are currently filled to around 63 percent of capacity.
Meanwhile, gas flows via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline are down to 40 percent of capacity. If Russian gas supplies "remain at this low level, it will hardly be possible to achieve a storage level of 90 percent by November without additional measures," BNetzA said.
"In order to save as much gas as possible, we will gradually introduce a night-time reduction in the heating temperature for the gas central heating systems in our portfolios," German housing company Vonovia said.
Source: Xinhua
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