Russia could ‘put foot on throat of Germany’ says expert
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has virtually turned off the taps on the flow of gas to Germany via the Yamal Europe pipeline, according to official figures. Data from the Gascade pipeline operator showed that Russian westbound gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Germany from Poland have declined sharply on Thursday.
This comes as Scholz’s government unveiled an ambitious plan this week to get all of its energy from renewable sources by 2035, 15 years ahead of their previous schedule.
A draft of the proposed legislation details Germany’s plans to double offshore wind capacity and triple onshore wind and solar power.
These projects could result in the generation of about 340 gigawatts of clean energy annually by 2030, which would cover about 80 percent of Germany’s electricity needs before hitting 100 percent in 2035.
This comes after Mr Scholz refused to certify Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last week
The pipeline, which was part of a deal struck between Vladimir Putin and former Chancellor Angela Merkel, would have sent Russian gas to Germany, bypassing Ukraine and Poland on its route through the Baltic Sea.
While Germany may have ambitious plans to become energy independent, at the moment it, along with the rest of the continent is heavily reliant on Russian gas.
Europe relies on Russia for a staggering 40 percent of its gas supply, with over 10 percent of this coming directly through Ukraine.
Western nations have issued wide-ranging sanctions to punish Russia’s economy amid the Ukrainian invasion and deter further conflict, but European leaders have been reluctant to target Russian gas and oil directly due to the continent’s reliance on the source coupled with soaring energy prices.
There are concerns that Putin could cut the gas travelling into Europe amid the “full-scale invasion” of Ukraine as tensions between the Kremlin and the West ramp up.
These fears may now be coming to light as the Yamal – Europe pipeline, which usually accounts for about 15 percent of Russia’s westbound supply of gas to Europe and Turkey, send extremely amounts.
According to the Gascade data, gas supplies fell to mere 598,712 kilowatt-hours per hour (kWh/h) on Thursday morning, which is sharp decline from the 17.5 million kWh/h that was previously recorded.
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The data from the operator also found that preliminary bids of 6.4 million kWh/h for the next 24 hours for westbound supplies, while bids for eastbound flows of 6.1 million kWh/h also remained.
Sharing a map showing Europe’s gas reserves, Professor Vitor Constâncio warned on Twitter that Germany’s gas reserves were “strikingly low”.
The map showed that Germany would only have enough energy for six weeks if Russia were to completely halt the flow of gas.
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