France is on its strategy to approving a mission to export 100 Gigawatt hours per day of gasoline to Germany from 10 October because the Power Regulatory Fee launched the mission’s public session section on Thursday (15 September) – the second final step earlier than launch.
Learn the unique article in French right here.
Following French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement on 5 September that France and Germany agreed to a gasoline solidarity settlement throughout a press convention after assembly German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French gasoline system operator GRTGaz introduced on 7 September that checks carried out on the gasoline interconnector connecting the border areas of Obergailbach and Medelsh September has been profitable.
This gave France’s vitality regulatory fee, CRE, the go-ahead to launch the mission’s public session section on Thursday (15 September), which can run till 27 September to substantiate prices for suppliers and shoppers.
For France to begin sending gasoline to Germany through the pipeline from 10 October, the CRE will nonetheless have to attend for the French Superior Power Council to provide its opinion on the prices, in order that it may give its ultimate inexperienced gentle.
If permitted, the mission will enable GRTGaz to promote 100 Gigawatt hours per day (GWh/d) to Germany, with the opportunity of promoting unsold gasoline the day after.
The amount quantities to what about 4 nuclear reactors can produce a day, mentioned GRTGaz CEO Thierry Trouvé throughout a presentation of the mission on Wednesday (14 September).
Gasoline has turn out to be a sizzling commodity in Germany since imports from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline – which accounted for over 1 / 4 of the nation’s gasoline consumption – had been suspended on 1 September.
This Franco-German mission may thus shut the hole attributable to the Nord Stream 1 suspension and assist Germany – which consumed a complete of 1.55 TWh/d of electrical energy in 2021 – meet its vitality wants.
“We have to be responsive in order that European solidarity close to gasoline and electrical energy is concrete,” tweeted CRE’s new president, Emmanuelle Wargon following the announcement.
The mission may thus come as a saving grace for Germany, which, since August, has been calling on France to carry its opposition to the Franco-Spanish MidCat pipeline for which building has been on maintain since 2019, and for which French President Emmanuel Macron mentioned that he would solely change his place if he had been satisfied of the mission’s usefulness.
Slowing down flows
However the mission may very well be slowed down and even cancelled.
The one gasoline pipeline between France and Germany is the one connecting Obergailbach and Medelsheim, however solely operates from East to West and permits as much as 650 GWh/d of gasoline to be imported into France.
In direction of Gemany, the French flows all transit from the Dunkirk LNG terminal through Belgium.
Because of this the dispatch of this new capability might be conditional on the profitable completion of pressing circulate reversal work, which may have an effect on the operation of the infrastructure., GRTGaz has warned.
On high of that, the deliberate 100 GWh/d might be conditional on GRTGaz’s community capability – which means it can rely on every day French consumption ranges, in addition to on the extent of the gasoline storage website of Storengy – a subsidiary of Engie – at Cerville in Meurthe et Moselle, which has a capability of 1.5 billion cubic metres.
Flows can thus be introduced right down to zero.
Moreover, the gasoline may also need to be transferred in response to French guidelines which require including an odour to the gasoline for security causes – one thing the Germans don’t require.
For now, it’s nonetheless unclear how lengthy the mission will final, although the winter will probably present the mission’s sustainability in the long term.
[Edited by Daniel Eck]
