The Government of Spain assures that the gas supply in the country is guaranteed by the low dependence on Russia and the extensive network of regasification plants and suppliers. Despite this, and at the request of the European Commission, the Executive is preparing an energy security contingency plan in the face of the danger that the Russian gas tap will be closed. Asturias will play a key role in this programme, because it will enable gas storage capacity to be increased in the short term with the start-up of the Gijón regasification plant and because it can offer backup solutions for coal-fired thermal generation and management of the demand for energy due to the weight of its large electro-intensive industry. In addition, in the Principality there is one of the largest strategic fuel deposits in the country.
The El Musel regasification plant
Interviewed by LA NUEVA ESPAÑA, the third vice president of the Government and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, announced that the start-up of the El Musel regasification plant – built ten years ago and until now unused – as a logistics center will be “key ” in the energy security contingency plan. In the first place because, according to Ribera, it will allow a 6% increase in gas storage capacity in Spain. And secondly because “it will provide solidarity coverage for the needs of other countries that are in worse conditions than Spain” in terms of dependence on Russian gas, said the Vice President, who stressed that “due to the structure of the port of El Musel, due to its reception capacity, it can receive very large methane tankers and facilitate the re-export of gas by ship”. For this reason, the start-up of the El Musel regasification plant, scheduled for the end of this year or the beginning of the next, will be included “as the first measure of support for other countries of the European Union in the contingency plan,” Ribera said. .
coal thermal
Faced with the risk of a lower supply of gas and, above all, of a sharp increase in its price, the Ministry for Ecological Transition has asked Red Eléctrica de España, the electricity system operator, to reassess the need or not to maintain The coal-fired power plants that have requested the closure of the facilities but that do not yet have final authorization are open. It is interesting to know whether or not it is necessary to prolong the life of the As Pontes thermal plant in Coruña, owned by Endesa, due to its great generation capacity as it is the most powerful coal-fired plant in Spain, but the Asturian plant of Soto de Ribera, owned by EDP. The other thermal of this company in the Principality, that of Aboño, is operational and there would be no going back for the Lada plants, owned by Iberdrola, and Narcea, owned by Naturgy, which are already disconnected from the electrical system and pending dismantling of the facilities.
The electro-intensive industry
Teresa Ribera met last week with representatives of the main energy companies, industry employers, consumer organizations and unions. The Vice President highlighted the need to adopt, as far as possible, energy efficiency and saving measures and invited the attendees to make proposals to include in the energy security contingency plan that the Government is preparing and that it will send to the European Commission. The Association of Companies with Large Energy Consumption (AEGE), to which companies with a strong influence in Asturias belong –as is the case of ArcelorMittal, Asturiana de Zinc or Nippon Gases, the former Praxair– already proposed in that meeting to recover the old interruptibility system, a mechanism for regulating energy demand by which large electricity consumers offer, in exchange for financial remuneration, to disconnect from the network if the system is needed. A mechanism that was in force until June 2020 and in which the Asturian electro-intensive industry played a major role for years, obtaining a large part of the blocks with the highest interruptible power in Red Eléctrica auctions.
The strategic fuel warehouse
Teresa Ribera pointed out to LA NUEVA ESPAÑA that “another of the energy raw materials that is exported from Russia to Europe in a very notable amount is diesel, and this puts its availability in some EU countries on alert.” The Ministry for the Ecological Transition has already ordered, on a temporary basis, to reduce the obligation to maintain minimum security stocks of oil products in Spain due to the geopolitical situation in Europe as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. These minimum stocks, which are managed by the Cores corporation, are stored in large warehouses such as that of Petróleos Asturianos in the port of El Musel, one of the largest in the North of Spain. Last March, within the framework of the Coordinated Response Plan of the International Energy Agency, the Government agreed to release two million barrels of oil from the existing minimum security stocks in Spain, passing the obligation of 92 days equivalent to 89.4. In June, in a new coordinated action, the Government ordered a new reduction to 86.4 days with the aim of alleviating the tension in the markets and the effects of an unstable supply of crude oil and its derivatives from Russia. On that occasion, 2.3 million barrels of oil were released. A part of the energy reserve is stored in the facilities of the oil companies and the other part is in charge of the Cores corporation, which uses its own and leased facilities. Among the latter are the facilities of Petróleos Asturianos in El Musel, with reserves to cover the demand of the entire country for two days.
Germany fills its gas tanks, turns to coal plants and calls for savings
The war in Ukraine has revealed Germany’s high dependence on Russian gas, which renewables will not be able to solve in the short term, so the Government is now seeking to fill deposits, diversify supplies, resort to coal and oil plants, in addition to call the population and the industry to save. The regular maintenance tasks of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, in principle until next Thursday and through which lately only 40% of the usual volume was flowing -according to Moscow, due to the lack of a turbine-, and the fear that Russia not restore the flow once completed, they increase the concern in Germany for the coming winter. Since last June 23, the alert level of the gas emergency plan has been in force, the second of three levels, declared then due to the decrease in supply from Russia and high energy prices. Last Monday, the date for the start of maintenance tasks on Nord Stream 1, the government assured that the security of supply is guaranteed and that for the moment it is not considering declaring the next level of the emergency plan, which would involve the intervention of the State in the market to regulate the flow. Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck questioned the intended priority, if any, for consumers over industry in the event of a gas shortage by stressing that households must also make their contribution.
The Asturian contribution to the energy security program
- El Musel Regasifier. Its commissioning will increase the gas storage capacity in Spain by 6% and will allow it to be re-exported to other European countries.
- Soto de Ribera Thermal. The Government has asked Red Eléctrica to evaluate whether it is necessary to extend the life of the coal-fired power plants pending closure permission.
- Electrointensive industries. The employers’ association AEGE, to which Arcelor and Azsa belong, have proposed to the Government to reactivate the interruptibility mechanism to regulate demand.
- Strategic fuel reserve. One of the largest deposits of the strategic fuel reserve in Spain is located in the port of El Musel.