Two cold waves that hit large parts of Spain a few weeks apart – in January and February – caused the temperature to rise. to consume natural gas well above expectations handled for normal weather conditions. The operator of the Spanish gas system, Enagás, had to activate the gas system. situation ‘exceptional operationdue to increased demand of gas in homes and businesses caused by low temperatures.
The extraordinary increase in consumption and less injection of gas into tanks due to the cold season meant that gas operators used some of the stored reserves that fell during the winter months. However, the Government assumes that there is an “extraordinary state” of the country’s security of supply and calculates: The existing reserves will meet all the gas consumption needs of homes and businesses for 40 days. if all gas imports were completely stopped.
Three Spanish underground warehouses currently have more than 27,500 gigawatt hours (GWh); 78% of its capacity Total. The regasification plants, which serve to receive the gas coming from ships, have a reserve of approximately 12,600 GWh with a filling potential of 55%.
shielded gas consumption
Gas stored in underground tanks is equivalent. 29 days for the whole country, about 15 days for plants. The energy sector applies adjustments in calculating the coverage of security of supply, which means that days of consumption equivalent to reserves are not simply added to each type of deposit as they have different rates of availability to consume each other. Therefore, the Minister of Energy calculates that all these warehouse and utility grid reserves are equivalent to 36 to 40 days of national demand.
Higher-than-expected demand during the cold seasons meant that Spain consumed 15% of its current gas reserves in just one month, causing warehouse occupancy to drop below 80% for the first time in seven months since the start. surpassed this level as part of last August. strategy EU protect themselves from the threat of supply disruption Russia.
pre-winter highs
Three underground storage tanks in Spain reached an occupancy level of over 96.6% with a maximum of 34,000 GWh in November, which has even caused gas system operator Enagás to delay some gas supplies to the country. Warehouses lost a quarter of their reserves from pre-winter heights. With the cold wave at the end of January, Spain lost the level of 90%, and with the second cold storm at the end of February, it fell below 80%.
Despite the decrease in the capacity used by the deposit, Spain, One of the countries with the highest occupancy rate of its warehouses across the European Union, which currently records an average of around 55% of all continental storage capacity.
In parallel, the tanks of the regasification plants are currently registering a filling equivalent to 55% of their capacity. In the last two weeks, the occupancy of facilities has increased from 46% after the last cold wave. However, they are far from the 80% levels reached in November.
Enagás triggered the ‘extraordinary working’ state of the gas system with the cold wave that occurred between 22 January and 4 February. According to gas records, during these ten days gas demand deviated by more than 13% from executive forecasts for a normal weather scenario, and consumption was 934 gigawatt hours (GWh) above initial estimates. the system operator who updates them daily.
In the new ‘exceptional business’ declared by the cold wave between February 26 and March 4, the extraordinary demand increase was 1,695 GWh in just one week. A deviation of almost 41% from the estimates made by Enagás before the storm.
anti Putin shield
The European Union has launched a strategy. It has completely reduced its massive dependence on Russian gas occupation of Ukraine is working to ensure energy supply security this winter and in the coming winters. Brussels proposed creating a shield to protect themselves against Moscow, which included the obligation of member states to gradually fill their gas tanks.
The plan, devised by Brussels, envisioned that each country’s gas storages will reach over 80% of their capacity by November 1st of this year with over 90% gas storage from November this year to 2026. Most member states have greatly exceeded their set storage targets. Due to increased gas consumption in winter, tanks in the EU are currently 59% full, but even the continental average reached 95% before starting to burn more fuel due to lower winter temperatures.
The Spanish government even began to build an “anti-Putin” shield at the dawn of the war in Ukraine, before the measures taken by the European Union, and just at the end of March last year – a month after the start of the war. military occupation – Increased gas retailers’ safety stock obligations from 20 days of firm consumption to 27.5 days.