Germany to fire up coal stations as Russia squeezes gas supply
Germany must reduce
natural gas consumption and increase the burning of coal in order to help fill gas storage facilities for next winter, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck announced Sunday as the country moves away from reduced
Russian gas supplies.
"The situation is serious," Habeck said in a statement. "We are therefore continuing to strengthen precautions and taking additional measures to reduce gas consumption. This means that gas consumption must fall further, but more gas must be put into the storage facilities, otherwise things will really get tight in winter."
Germany is heavily reliant on Moscow's gas to power its homes and heavy industry, but has managed to whittle Moscow's share of its imports down to 35% from 55% before the start of the war in Ukraine.
Despite Germany's plans to exit coal-fueled energy production, Habeck, who is a Green Party politician in the center-left ruling coalition, announced a return to "coal-fired power plants for a transitional period" in order to reduce gas consumption for electricity production.
"We are setting up a gas substitute reserve on call. "That's bitter, but it's almost necessary in this situation to reduce gas consumption," Habeck said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/19/energy/germany-russia-gas-supplies-winter-intl/index.html
Export your pollution to a foreign quasi-dictatorship in order to burnish your "green" credentials, then hurriedly revert to what actually works when the obvious happens and you need to keep your country running reliably...
maximus otter