Because of the Ukraine war, Europe’s supply of gas from Russia is considered endangered. Businesses are adjusting to throttled deliveries. As an important industrial location, the southwest is particularly challenged.
Stuttgart (dpa/lsw) – In the current energy crisis, the economy in the southwest is preparing intensively for a possible gas shortage. “As far as energy saving is concerned, our member companies are currently turning every stone,” said Wolfgang Grenke, President of the umbrella organization BWIHK, the German Press Agency in Stuttgart.
However, the savings potential varies in size in the different sectors. Grenke warned against “simple arithmetic games” with general specifications. “If these were enacted or if companies were even cut off from the gas supply, there would be (…) permanent damage up to and including the loss of thousands of jobs,” said the head of the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BWIHK).
Peer-Michael Dick, Managing Director of the Baden-Württemberg Entrepreneurs Association, made a similar statement on Friday: “In view of the reduction in gas deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, we are threatened with supply bottlenecks in winter, which would hit companies and thus the labor market hard,” said Dick. According to the Stuttgart Economics Ministry, Baden-Württemberg is the largest industrial location in Germany.
Companies across Germany are bracing for Russia to cut gas supplies further in response to Western sanctions over the attack on Ukraine. According to experts, gas is indispensable for the chemical industry, the glass industry or rolling mills in the steel industry.
The car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz had announced that it would be able to reduce natural gas consumption in Germany by up to 50 percent this year with an emergency plan. The company with the star relies on electricity, oil and savings to replace gas. According to their own statements, the people of Stuttgart have already reduced their gas consumption by a tenth.
The neighboring sports car manufacturer Porsche said on request that they are constantly examining ways to reduce energy consumption. The manufacturer has already decided to lower the temperature in offices and in production by two degrees each – the legal framework is thus complied with, a spokesman said.
The machine builder Trumpf from Ditzingen (Ludwigsburg district) uses gas primarily for heating, as a spokesman reported. The manufacturer already shut down heaters last winter. In the longer term, the family business is planning to install more heat pumps and renovate older office buildings, among other things.
According to a spokesman for the Stuttgart-based auto supplier Mahle, a lack of gas is seen as “a worrying scenario”. Mahle has been working in a working group for months to prepare for various possibilities. “However, in the event of a gas shortage, the decisive factor will be how the allocation of gas is regulated in the respective countries – that is not yet foreseeable,” said the spokesman. Mahle wants to significantly reduce the energy requirement at all locations and increasingly switch to renewable energy sources.
BWIHK boss Grenke reported on a lot of feedback from companies to his association. He criticized complicated procedures in the field of renewable energies. A switch to oil and coal must also be faster in the crisis: “It cannot be that the approval process takes longer than the conversion or the construction itself,” said Grenke
