In its special report on dealing with congestion on the North-West European gas markets, published on Monday 24 July, the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) looks back at the emergence of serious bottlenecks in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands, and the ways in which transmission system operators (TSOs) and national regulatory authorities (NRAs) have dealt with them.
Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European gas system was primarily designed to transport Russian supplies from east to west. Then, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the increase in pipeline supplies began to enter Europe from the west. This situation has led to bottlenecks in North-West Europe.
In 2022, the EU TSOs recorded €3.4 billion in congestion revenue, of which €2.98 billion (almost 90%) was specifically for the TSOs of North-West Europe. In 2021, total congestion revenues in the EU amounted to €55 million.
According to ACER, the TSOs have made efforts to remedy the acute physical bottlenecks between Belgium and the Netherlands, between Belgium and Germany and between France and Germany, by increasing the gas capacity (kWh/h) available.
However, although there was coordination between neighbouring TSOs, this coordination weakened when attempts were made, in difficult circumstances, to maximise the availability of firm and interruptible capacity on either side of national borders. This resulted in inadequate transport capacity.
ACER therefore recommends that TSOs improve the availability of information on the use of the gas network, but also jointly optimise gas capacity, assess investment needs in order to avoid ‘stranded assets’, and refine the rules on gas transmission capacity.
To see the ACER report: https://aeur.eu/f/87u (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)