Bavarian CSU accuses grid agency of actively “disadvantaging” certain regions in gas crisis

Bavaria’s ruling conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party has accused the German grid agency (BNetzA) of actively discriminating certain regions of the country in the gas supply crisis, news agency dpa reports in an article carried by Der Spiegel. “The BNetzA has made it clear that it plans an energy supply that disadvantages southern and eastern Germany,” CSU parliamentary group leader Alexander Dobrindt said. The comments came after BNetzA head Klaus Müller had said that gas cutoffs for individual companies are more likely to occur in certain regions of Germany than in others during the next two winters due to an uneven supply of the fossil fuel that Russia is seen as using as a tool of coercion in its war against Ukraine. The CSU politician said the agency head had to make clear who exactly he is addressing with his warning and that the “apparent preparations for regional discrimination have to be stopped immediately.”

Economic powerhouse Bavaria is particularly exposed to risks caused by the gas supply crisis, as the state heavily relies on gas-fired power plants to stabilise its energy system and for years has been blocking the expansion of power transmission lines that could transport excess renewable power from northern states to the south. As a result, the Bavarian Isar 2 nuclear plant near Munich could receive a limited runtime extension beyond the scheduled decommissioning date at the end of this year. Moreover, while Bavaria is leading in solar power expansion, it has been among the slowest of all 16 states in the country to roll out wind power, prospectively Germany’s most important power source. The national wind industry as well as other industry associations from Bavaria have repeatedly appealed to the CSU-led state government to give up its resistance to wind power.