Germany: Russia curbs gas supply; retaliation for murder verdict?

 No more gas is flowing from Russia via Belarus to Germany since sunday. Some experts see this as an expression of disapproval by the Kremlin for the murder verdict against the russian hitman that killed a chechen individual in Berlin in 2019 and the restive attitude of newly appointed foreign minister Annalena Baerbock, writes BILD:

He did it again!

Russian President Vladimir Putin (69) has turned off the gas. Since Sunday, no more Russian gas has flowed to Germany via Belarus and Poland.

▶ ︎ “For commercial reasons”, as they say from Moscow, but experts see a different reason for turning the gas tap on again in the direction of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Poles were the first to notice last Friday that something was wrong with the gas deliveries via the Yamal pipeline of the Russian state-owned company Gazprom. At around 5 a.m., the pressure in the pipeline dropped, initially by only about ten percent, and then by another 90 percent on Saturday morning.

EU: conservative lawmakers warn Commission President unfulfillable energy requirements

 As the decision about the "green character" of different energy sources is scrutinized, conservative lawmakers caution European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that some requirements might be unrealizable and thus damage companies and strain consumers, writes WELT:

The argument has been smoldering for months, but Ursula von der Leyen wants to end it soon. The European Commission will shortly decide whether it will classify nuclear power and natural gas as sustainable in the future - and under what conditions.

Before the final spurt in Brussels, MEPs warn that companies and consumers in many European countries could suffer the wrong decision. They fear that excessively strict requirements from Brussels could ensure that the energy supply is at risk, that energy prices remain high in the long term - and that the energy transition could fail on top of that.

That is the tenor of a letter that 22 MPs from eleven countries sent to von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, on Friday. “We remain convinced that Europe must make the transition to climate neutrality realistic, responsible and appropriate; especially when it comes to the specific needs of small and medium-sized companies, ”says the letter initiated by CDU member Markus Pieper. The unpublished letter is available to WELT.

Nord Stream 2: operator ramps up pressure, fills pipeline with gas

 Despite the fact that the controversial pipeline still doesn't have the necessary operating licence, the pipeline is being flooded with gas "to establish the necessary line pressure", as the operating company puts it, writes WELT:

The operating company of the controversial Baltic Sea pipeline Nord Stream 2 started filling the second line on Friday. According to the company, this is intended to build up the technical line pressure required for the gas flow.

“The pre-commissioning work on the second line was successfully completed to ensure the integrity of the pipeline,” explained the Swiss-based subsidiary of the Russian state monopoly Gazprom. The pipeline was "built in accordance with applicable technical and industrial standards and independently certified".

The early filling of the pipelines at a time of extremely high gas prices is surprising, as the operating license for the pipeline will still be months away. The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) had suspended the approval process for pipeline operation for the time being because Gazprom had not yet implemented the formal conditions of the European gas directive.

According to the European competition rules, the owner and user of a line monopoly must not be identical. Gazprom must therefore set up an operating company that is formally and personally independent in accordance with the German legal form in order to meet this requirement. Only then can the certification of the gas pipe be completed.

Gazprom is working on the implementation. But decisions will probably "not be made in the first half of the year", said the President of the Federal Network Agency, Jochen Homann, with a view to 2022. The process will continue as soon as the necessary documents are submitted in such a way that "they can be checked" - but that alone has Nord Stream 2 AG in hand.

The BNetzA is under political pressure from various sides. Opponents of the project, including the USA, are demanding that the federal government not allow the line to go into operation for geopolitical reasons. Several EU countries are also calling on Germany to use the pipeline in the Ukraine conflict as a means of pressure against Russia.

Supporters of the pipeline project therefore suspect that the approval process of the Federal Network Agency could drag on longer than is actually necessary due to this political pressure. Some want to see the formulation of the BNetzA president as an indication that time leeway should be used to the maximum. Homann had pointed out that after the examination by the BNetzA, the whole thing would still go to the European Commission. This has "a lot of time to deal with it again".

If Gazprom is already filling the pipeline between St. Petersburg and Greifswald with gas, that could - intentionally or only as a welcome side effect - exert counter pressure on the licensing authority. Because gas prices in Germany and Europe are currently at a record level. In addition, a physical shortage of gas cannot be ruled out for industrial companies and power plant operators.

Operators of gas power plants in Germany are already warning of the increased risk of business interruptions due to a lack of gas deliveries this winter. The industry association “Trading Hub Europe” (THE), which is responsible for the gas supply, is also trying to organize additional gas volumes especially for Bavaria for February by means of a “special tender”.

If there were physical supply bottlenecks in Germany in the event of an extremely cold and long winter, politicians could come under pressure to justify why gas volumes from Nord Stream 2 are not used that are already physically available at the landing point Greifsland on German territory.

How sensitive the gas market is with regard to the politically sensitive supply situation was shown recently by reactions to a statement by the Federal Foreign Minister. Annalena Baerbock (Greens) had pointed out that "as things stand, this pipeline cannot be approved because it does not meet the requirements of European energy law." Market participants and media representatives misinterpreted as a political declaration of intent.

As a result, gas prices in European wholesale rose significantly over several days. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) only pointed out at the end of this week that Baerbock's statements had been misunderstood: The commissioning of the pipeline was not a political question, Scholz made clear: For commissioning, compliance with European law was only required in one sub-aspect clear up. "An authority in Germany decides on this quite apolitically."

Germany: EU plans thwart Germany's energy shift

 EU guidelines with very strict precepts on gas power plants could lead Germany to extend the operating time of coal power plants the government wanted to give up by 2030, reports WELT:

The new federal government would like to "ideally" bring the coal phase-out in Germany forward from 2038 to 2030. But the traffic light coalition partners encounter immense problems right at the beginning of their project. In addition to the even declining production of renewable energies, new specifications from Brussels threaten to make it more difficult to achieve the targets.

The starting position for the planned energy transition turbo of the new federal government deteriorated considerably on Wednesday: According to the latest figures from the German Association of Energy and Water Management (BDEW), the goal of achieving 80 percent green electricity in Germany by 2030 has become little more unrealistic. Accordingly, the share of renewable energies in gross electricity consumption has even shrunk from 46 percent to 42 percent this year. The main reason for this was poor wind conditions.

It is therefore ruled out in specialist circles that renewable energies can replace the capacities of coal and nuclear power that will be lost in the near future. Almost every study on the achievement of the German energy transition targets assumes that gas-fired power plants will have to be built to a considerable extent by 2030 in order to be able to temporarily close the electricity gap.

Germany: chancellor Scholz on Nord Stream 2 and nuclear power

 Newly appointed chancellor Olaf Scholz refused in a speech to interconnect the question of the operating licence of contentious pipeline Nord Stream 2 and the tense situation in Ukraine. Nord Stream 2 is a purely commercial project, he said. He disagreed with french President Macron about the future of nuclear. He pointed out that Germany has other energetical models. 

Source WELT:

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has spoken out against combining the operating license for the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline with efforts to de-escalate the Ukraine crisis. “With regard to Nord Stream 2, it is a private-sector project,” he said on Friday night after the EU summit in Brussels.

For commissioning, compliance with European law has to be clarified in one aspect. "An authority in Germany decides on this quite apolitically," emphasized the SPD politician. This is "a different question" than the current efforts to prevent a violation of the Ukrainian borders.

The Baltic Sea pipeline from Russia to Germany was completed weeks ago. The Federal Network Agency decides on the operating permit. The pipeline has long been criticized by the US, but also by some EU countries. They fear that they are too dependent on Russia for energy supplies.

At its summit, the EU unanimously threatened Russia with retaliation in the event of an attack on Ukraine. In a joint statement by the heads of state and government, Russia urgently needs to defuse the tensions caused by the deployment of troops on the border with Ukraine and aggressive rhetoric. Any further military aggression will have "massive consequences and high costs".

Battery technology: australian start-up Vulcan Energy buys German geothermal power station

 Source Der Spiegel:

The Australian lithium start-up Vulcan Energy is pushing ahead with its plans to extract the element that is important for battery production in Germany. Vulcan's German subsidiary is buying a geothermal power plant in the Upper Rhine Valley for around 31.5 million euros. As the company announced, it will take over the power plant from the regional energy supplier Pfalzwerke. A first pilot plant for the production of lithium hydroxide is to be put into test operation at the geothermal power plant in Insheim in the Palatinate.

Vulcan is working on the supply of lithium to Volkswagen and other European automakers such as Opel parent company Stellantis. You have already placed orders because lithium is needed in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars. From the point of view of experts, however, the company still has to prove that its idea for lithium extraction actually works financially lucrative enough on a large industrial scale.

Nord Stream 2: Biden administration piles pressure on new german government

 The US government is losing patience with german officials who - to date - do not want to commit to a dropping of the contentious pipeline in case of a russian aggression against Ukraine. From the US viewpoint it remains to be if newly appointed foreign secretary Annalena Baerbock gets her way and if new german chancellor Olaf Scholz can preserve his independence towards the general position of his social-democratic party who supports this project, writes WELT:

Seldom has a Chancellor found himself caught between two superpowers so quickly. Not only congratulations for Olaf Scholz (SPD) came from Washington and Moscow, but also tangible pressure. The US wants to deter Russia from invading Ukraine - and, parallel to Scholz's inauguration, made it clear that they consider the federal government to be part of the problem.

"We have had intensive discussions with both the outgoing and the new German government about the issue of Nord Stream 2 in connection with a possible invasion," said US President Joe Biden's national security advisor, Jake Sullivan. "If Vladimir Putin wants gas to flow through this pipeline, he may not want to take the risk of invading Ukraine."

The message: If Putin attacks Ukraine, Berlin must stop the German-Russian pipeline. The US is fed up with Germany's geostrategic ghost ride. Putin had tightened Russia's course against Europe over two decades - but the German chancellors stuck to the billion-dollar pipeline project.