Energy industry welcomes plans for national gas crisis reserve for Germany, calls for better design

Germany’s energy industry has welcomed government plans to establish a strategic national gas reserve to better shield the country from supply risks. “The creation of a gas reserve is a significant step towards strengthening Germany’s gas supply security,” said Sebastian Heinermann, managing director of gas storage industry association INES, in a statement responding to a leaked draft by the economy and energy ministry, seen by Clean Energy Wire. 

According to the draft, the ministry plans to scrap the country’s gas storage filling targets by the end of March 2027 and introduce the strategic reserve instead. The backup should have the sole purpose to cushion supply crises and prevent - or at least delay - state interventions in the event of a gas shortage, a status determined by the country’s Federal Network Agency (BNetzA). Germany currently has a gas storage filling target of around 70 percent by November, and 30 percent by February 2027.

While it mentions a target figure of 24 terawatt hours, the draft does set a binding volume for the reserve. Instead, it tasks Trading Hub Europe (THE), the operator of Germany’s gas market area, with managing the reserve and procuring gas based on its own risk assessments. INES head Heinermann said the reserve’s size and timeline should be set by parliament rather than through administrative procedures and that management should not be left to a single market actor, calling the matter “a foundational political question.” 

The reserve would cover gas supplies over a period of 30 days if regular supply infrastructure failed, and would be built up over several years to minimise the impact on regular storage filling. It would be financed through a new levy, starting in October 2027, with costs estimated at 247 to 308 million euros per year over the first ten years. “This implies a levy likely in the range of 0.29 to 0.36 euros per megawatt hour,” INES said. 

Energy industry association BDEW said in a separate statement that the reserve would increase Germany’s resilience, but stressed that it should be strictly limited to crisis mitigation and not be used to dampen prices or supplement regular winter supplies. The government has in the past suggested to use reserves to reduce high energy prices. BDEW head Kerstin Andreae also criticised the proposed management structure. She said the entire gas market’s expertise should be used to manage the reserve, with tenders for filling capacity allowing the most efficient supply. 

Andreae added that the reserve was a “public good” that should be financed through the state budget rather than through a new levy. “The reserve does not only benefit gas customers but the entire economy,” she argued. 

The war in Iran has fuelled fears over a new gas supply crisis in Germany, even though the country has made enormous efforts to diversify its supply after its traditional main supplier Russia weaponised energy trading as part of its war on Ukraine since 2022. At the end of September, Germany’s government ordered its national gas importer SEFE to speed up storage filling, following months of below-average levels that spurred fears of a tight winter.