No gas from Russia at all? Europe must prepare for the worst

Russia has already taken action in recent weeks. And turned the gas tap to Holland partially closed† This has also occurred in other European countries, including Italy and Germany.

And this could be a worse omen, says International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol in a conversation with The financial times (Foot). “Europe needs to prepare to cut off the entire route to Russian gas,” Birol said.

Keeping nuclear power plants open

He urges governments to take action: Demand must be reduced, and consumers must use less gas. He believes that nuclear power plants should remain open, even if they are old.

“The closer we get to winter, the better we will understand Russian intentions,” Birol says. Russia would like to frustrate Europe when it comes to replenishing those stocks for the upcoming cold season. gas power.

Coal-fired power plants at full speed

This is why Holland chooses coal. Coal-fired power plants are allowed to operate at full capacity again for the time being to generate electricity and thus replenish gas reserves. Germany also took a new emergency measures And this week it announced it was entering its next “alert phase”.

Coal and savings are also an issue here. Germany is one of the largest European buyers of Russian gas.

Winter worry

According to MP and energy expert Henri Bontenbal (CDA), it is now essential to get coal-fired power plants up and running faster. He also expressed concern about the upcoming winter: “We are not well prepared yet, and the cat-and-mouse game with Russia will continue in the coming months,” he told RTL Z.

So we welcome everything we can provide in Russian gas. “It is not expected that this will be the last time,” he says of the future conflict with Russia.

The main drawback, of course, is the climate damage, although according to the expert, there are also fewer emissions due to the high energy prices at the moment. “It would have been better if we had not faced these crises.” Bontenbal believes that both the climate and energy crisis should be tackled as closely as possible.

“The only solution”

A fact that the Energy Agency also points out. According to the agency, on Wednesday, international investments in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy, grow†

But it is still far from enough to tackle this energy crisis or the climate crisis. Only a massive increase can occur, Birol says. According to him, this is the “only solution”.