“Customers need advance notice”
Ministry of Economic Affairs is preparing to dismantle the gas network
March 18, 2024, 4:15 p.m
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Germany wants to move away from fossil fuels by 2045. The Federal Ministry of Economics is now examining how a further expansion of the natural gas supply can be prevented and the existing network can be reduced. It is unlikely that heating customers will be supplied with hydrogen in the future.
As part of the extensive phase-out of fossil fuels planned by 2045, the Federal Ministry of Economics expects the existing gas distribution network to be downsized. “By then, the phase-out of fossil natural gas must have been completed; gas distribution networks for the current natural gas supply will then no longer be needed in their current form and scope,” says a 23-page ideas paper that the ministry recently published on its website.
According to the Climate Protection Act, Germany should become climate-neutral by 2045, meaning that it should not be able to emit more greenhouse gases or bind them again. Among other things, it must be clarified in good time how further expansion into natural gas supply can be avoided and “under what conditions existing gas network connections may be separated and dismantled,” says the paper.
Gas distribution networks primarily serve to supply natural gas for heat generation in households, industrial companies and other companies as well as local power plants, the paper says. “The extent to which these gas distribution networks will still be needed after 2045 will depend, among other things, on the extent to which they can and should be used to distribute hydrogen.” This is possible through sometimes complex changes. “Accordingly, it can be assumed that the length of the gas distribution networks will decrease significantly from the current 500,000 km.”
Heat networks instead of hydrogen
The ministry assumes that many customers will be supplied by heating networks or use electricity-powered heat pumps in the future. “A decentralized hydrogen supply, especially for heating customers or individual households, currently seems unlikely due, among other things, to the high costs of hydrogen in the heating sector and, above all, because of the limited quantities available. The consumption of natural gas from other energy sources is also increasing in the commercial and industrial sectors must be replaced and – as far as possible – electrification or connection to a heating network will also take place.”
It is crucial that “a continuous, affordable energy supply for end consumers” is guaranteed during the changeover. If natural gas networks were shut down, connected customers would need sufficient advance notice.