ESSEN, Germany (Reuters) – German gas demand could rise by as many as 8 percent in the period to 2022 to switch orchestrated closures of coal-fired power plants recently recommended by way of government-appointed commission, gas lobby group Zukunft Erdgas said on Wednesday.
In an exhibition at the E-World of one’s energy trade fair, the industry group said the advice of the commission can make gas your next pillar of power supplies, after renewables which already hold 40 %.
This would be up from currently 12.8 percent for gas and against coal’s 35.5 percent share in a gross generation estimate putting power generation at 649 terawatt hours (TWh) in 2019 .
“It is actually clear the importance of gas-to-power stations improves significantly,” Timm Kehler, head of the marketplace group told Reuters.
The coal commission on Jan. 26 recommended that coal-burning capacity you have to be than halved by 2030. Nuclear reactors will also be due to in close proximity 2022.
Gas-fired power station capacity depends upon 30 gigawatts (GW), the fact that only 38 percent were chosen last year versus 80 percent of brown coal plants and 40 percent of hard coal ones, Kehler said.
“That gave the commission confidence that switch out of coal is often handled,” he said.
“Now it is a few creating incentives for long-term investments while in the power system plus the gas infrastructure,” he added.
Calculations by Zukunft Erdgas assumed additional gas demand of between 30 and also a maximum 81 TWh annually for gas to get in power generation by 2022, for that quickly gas takes the share formerly held by coal.
Germany’s gas industry has failed for several years to make inroads into coal’s share because coal was cheaper, whether or not factoring in twice expense of carbon emissions permits.
Germany is Europe’s biggest gas market as 50 % its warming infrastructure hinges on gas, so does manufacturing.
There keeps increasing awareness over the political side, he explained, that the existing capacity need to be kept and built upon plus a transition of coal-fired cogeneration of warmth and power installations, operated by urban utilities, will be supported.
He also said: “Power price increases due to the exchange signal of gas could be manageable as a consequence of higher supply.”
Germany expects additional import volumes from the Nord Stream 2 pipeline under construction and with three terminal projects to liquefied gas main (LNG) competing for permission.
