Witness Calls Energy Supply Stress Test Alarmist
Berlin – A witness in the Bundestag’s inquiry committee on the energy supply has described the stress test of the Federal Network Agency as “alarmist”. The test assumes “very unlikely and extreme scenarios”, said Thomas Bareiß (CDU), former parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, on Tuesday in Berlin. “As a matter of principle, one should not deal with improbable scenarios.”
Bareiß said that a so-called simultaneously occurring shortfall of all French nuclear power plants had been included in the test. “The probability of this occurring is 0.5 percent,” he said. “One should not base one’s policy on such an extremely improbable scenario.”
The stress test of the Federal Network Agency had come to the conclusion that Germany could face a significant gas shortage in winter 2023/24, especially if the weather is cold. The test assumes that Russia will completely stop gas deliveries, that there will be a cold winter, and that there will be a simultaneous outage of all French nuclear power plants.
Bareiß criticized that the test did not take into account the measures that have already been taken to secure the energy supply. For example, the government has filled the gas storage facilities, procured additional LNG terminals, and is reactivating coal-fired power plants. “These measures have not been included in the stress test,” said Bareiß.
The CDU politician also criticized that the test did not consider the possibility of importing gas from other countries. “There are sufficient gas reserves in the world,” said Bareiß. “We just have to make sure that we can access them.”
Bareiß said that the stress test of the Federal Network Agency was “not a serious basis” for making decisions about energy policy. “The test is alarmist and does not reflect the reality,” he said.
Zeuge nennt Energieversorgungs-Stresstest alarmistisch
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