VIENNA | In view of the drop in Russian gas supplies, the Austrian government announced on Sunday evening that a decommissioned coal-fired power plant would be restarted in order to be able to compensate for a possible bottleneck.
• Also read: Vietnam: A famous environmental activist sentenced to two years in prison
• Also read: Russia made 93 billion euros from its fossil exports in 100 days of war
• Also read: War in Ukraine: EU bans most Russian oil in 6 months
The Chancellery announced in a press release published after a crisis meeting that the Verbund group, the country’s largest electricity supplier, had “mutually reactivated the currently shut down thermal power station” in Mellach (South).
The aim is “that in an emergency electricity can be produced from coal again”.
The process should take several months, said the Ministry of the Environment in an interview with the APA press agency.
The Mellach site, Austria’s last coal-fired power plant, was closed in spring 2020 as part of the government’s effort to eliminate this polluting energy source and produce 100% electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
“Our primary goal is the security of supply for the country,” 80 percent of whose gas comes from Russia, explained the conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who governs with the Greens. “It’s about replacing the missing Russian gas with other sources or suppliers so that we can continue to build up reserves.”
In mid-June, Austria had a storage utilization of 39% with a total capacity of 95 terawatt hours, which corresponds to the annual requirement, i.e. as a percentage above the average of the European Union (EU), according to the press release.
The government had presented an emergency plan back in May, but decided to go further when Russian giant Gazprom announced cuts in gas supplies in recent days amid a showdown between Western countries and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Germany also unveiled emergency measures on Sunday, with the possibility of using so-called “reserve” coal-fired power plants.