The German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (DVGW) has issued a statement criticising the BMWK's "Green Paper Transformation Gas/Hydrogen Distribution Networks". According to the association, the German government is taking too one-sided an approach in its proposals for restructuring the German gas distribution network in the "Green Paper Transformation Gas/Hydrogen Distribution Networks".
“The focus of the discussion should not be on decommissioning the gas infrastructure that is urgently needed for the energy transition, but on its further development towards climate neutrality”, says Prof Dr Gerald Linke, Chairman of the DVGW Executive Board. In the further development of the regulatory framework, the gas distribution networks are of central importance in the climate-neutral energy system. The BMWK, on the other hand, considers gas distribution networks to be of secondary importance in this context.
In the opinion of the DVGW, the Green Paper does not sufficiently consider the triad of conversion, decommissioning and partial new construction in the transformation. There is also a lack of differentiated consideration of the customer groups supplied by the gas distribution networks. “Where necessary, there will of course also be decommissioning of individual gas house connections. However, the entire distribution network - just like the hydrogen core network - is a basic prerequisite for being able to use hydrogen at all”, DVGW boss Linke differentiates.
His conclusion: “We therefore expressly do not share the politically one-sided basic premises of the BMWK and call on Minister Habeck to carry out a political reassessment of the role of the gas distribution grids for the energy transition. The role of gas grids in supplying power plants, for example, is of crucial importance. 83% of the power plant capacity totalling 62 GW is located in the gas distribution network.”
Now that the deadline has expired, the DVGW has fulfilled its consultation obligation and today issued a detailed statement on the Green Paper to the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK).
