Winter blackouts unlikely, but possible – Scholz
According to the German chancellor, his government did everything possible to avoid power shortages
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he doesn’t expect power blackouts this winter, despite concerns raised by the opposition, but has refused to rule out such a scenario altogether.
“We have done everything to ensure that it does not come to that,”Scholz commented on the possibility for German consumers to experience power shortages in a ZDF interview on Sunday.
In an interview on Saturday with Bild, Friedrich Merz (leader of Christian Democratic Union) warned that the German government would not phasing out nuclear power for ideological reasons. Merz said that Germany was at danger of losing nuclear power because the ruling coalition had phasing it out for ideological reasons in spite of the EU’s ongoing energy crisis. “blackouts early next year”As a result.
Germany currently has three operating nuclear power plants, and they are due to shut down at the end the year. Following a March review, government officials ruled out postponement. Merz demanded that the government reverse its decision and stated that the facilities must continue to provide electricity to the grid.
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Scholz defended his government’s policies, which have included energy-saving measures, efforts to fill up natural gas reserves, and the reactivation of coal-fired power plants. Scholz stated these should suffice to last the winter. Additionally, Germany would be able to ship more liquified petroleum gas in the coming months.
Berlin has faced the prospect of an energy crunch since it announced its intention to decouple the country’s economy from cheap Russian supplies. The idea was to slowly eliminate Russian fossil fuels while keeping natural gas in the energy mix. This would take place over a few years. Other factors impeded the flow of Russian natural gas.
After Russia seized a part of Ukraine, Ukraine refused to allow Russian fuel to be transported through any of its routes. Gazprom, Russia’s gas giant, restricted supplies through the Nord Stream underground pipeline. Gazprom cited difficulties servicing German-made equipment as a result of Western anti Russia sanctions.
German officials accuse Moscow of cutting supply for political reasons. Russia counters. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev argued last week that Berlin didn’t have the right to criticize Moscow in the first place, since it was conducting “hybrid warfare” against it.
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