economy coalition compromise
Gas industry celebrates breakthrough in heating law
Status: 27.06.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
“Hydrogen and green gases will be an integral part of the heating market in the future,” says the chairwoman of the German Gas and Water Association
Quelle: picture alliance/dpa
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The leaders of the traffic light parties are apparently planning fixed quotas for green gases in the pipeline network from 2029. The gas industry sees this as confirmation of an important requirement. Environmental groups, on the other hand, could oppose the agreement.
Representatives of the gas industry in particular have reacted positively to the traffic light coalition’s agreement on the controversial heating law.
“In the parliamentary process, what our industry had demanded from the start in terms of a climate-neutral and socially responsible energy transition is now being implemented,” says Gerald Linke, Chairman of the Board of the German Association of Gas and Water Specialists (DVGW), to WELT: “Hydrogen and Green gases will be an integral part of the heating market in the future.”
The leaders of the traffic light parties SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed on the details of the planned building energy law (GEG) on Tuesday night. According to reports, gas heaters can continue to be operated after the completion of municipal heat planning from 2029.
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However, the agreement probably envisages making the fuel more climate-friendly step by step by adding bio-methane.
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“15 percent from 2029, 30 percent from 2035 and 60 percent from 2040 are a strong signal that the value of the grids for security of supply has been recognized and that there is no way around technological openness,” comments DVGW boss Linke on the agreement.
Agreement could keep existing networks in operation
Previously, it was anything but certain that federal politicians would recognize “the value of the networks”. Patrick Graichen, the chief planner for the energy transition in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, who has since been on leave, had called on the municipalities to start planning for the “dismantling” of the gas networks more than a year ago. Since the decarbonization of Germany is planned by 2045, the existing network would no longer be needed.
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Graichen’s request triggered sharp protests on the part of the energy industry. From the suppliers’ point of view, a significantly larger amount of energy can be distributed via the existing gas network than via the electricity networks, which would first have to be expanded at a cost of billions.
According to the results of a large-scale study by the DVGW, the long-distance pipelines can also be filled with biogas or synthetic methane. They are also fully suitable for the transport of hydrogen.
Nevertheless, non-governmental organizations such as WWF, Deutsche Umwelthilfe and Nabu spoke out in March against allowing green gases as a so-called equivalent fulfillment option in the heat transition.
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However, the argument was inconsistent: on the one hand, the “green gases” were attested to be “inefficient” anyway and therefore uneconomical for use in the building sector. Nevertheless, their use as a means for more climate protection in the building sector should also be banned de facto, by not allowing them as a fulfillment option in the Building Energy Act.
“Relying on hydrogen and other green gases in the building sector is a fallacy,” warned Viviane Raddatz from WWF Germany: “Their use is neither efficient, nor are the green gases available on a large scale today or in the coming years. ”
Politicians are called upon “to stimulate the transformation of the building sector through technologies that are already available today, such as heat pumps or green heating networks, and not to raise false hopes”.
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“Contrary to what many intuitively assume, the use of hydrogen or ‘green gases’ would run counter to a rapid switch to climate-friendly energy sources and only create further fossil lock-ins and dependencies,” explains Daniel Rieger, Head of Climate and Environmental Policy at the German Nature Conservation Union.
The gas industry, on the other hand, had argued that the approval of green gases in the building sector would result in constant demand, which would only give planning and investment security for the development of the hydrogen economy, which was necessary in any case. With the coalition leaders agreeing on the introduction of quotas for green gases from 2029, the federal government is apparently leaning towards the gas industry’s perspective.
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