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The "Oldenburger Gastage's" exklusive partner, the BDEW, is an umbrella organisation
that represents approximately 1800 companies of very different sizes, classes and forms of organisation.
The spectrum of its members ranges from local to regional and nationwide companies.
Among other things, the BDEW's members stand for
approximately 60% of local and long-distance heating as well as 90% of the domestic gas overturn.
We have talked to the BDEW's president, Mr. Ewald Woste.
Mr. Woste. what led the BDEW to become the "Oldenburger Gastage's" exclusive partner?
Against the background of the new energy concept, passed by the government last year,
we realised that the issue of domestic gas has been treated quite neglectfully.
Thus, we decided to get involved with this issue more intensely and had a look at one of the leading events,
i.e. the "Oldenburger Gastage", and then - naturally - decided to seek a co-operation.
Looking at the horrible things happening in Fukushima and the thusly changing role of domestic gas,
our decision becomes - retrospectively - all the more correct.
We are looking forward to the co-operation with our associates in Oldenburg.
In the light of the current debates about energy:
Does gas, as the cleanest fossil energy carrier, gain a special significance?
In my opinion: Yes!
If you have a look at the ethics commission's closing report, in which the issue of domestic gas had a large and important part,
i.e. the usage of domestic gas in combined cycle-plants and in CHP generation plants,
domestic gas will gain significantly more weight than in the past.
Particularly, the expansion of combined cycle-plants will become necessary,
if the energy change with the nuclear phaseout is supposed to work.
All in all, the issue of domestic gas will become much more important than in the past.
What is the significance of the "Gastage's" partner country Great Britain,
on the European gas market?
I have to say that I find the partner very exciting.
On the one hand, Great Britain was one of the first countries that dealt with privatisation;
not only, but also with a privatisation of the energy sector.
On the other hand, Great Britain has also made very exciting experiences with regulation.
Hence, I am very much looking forward to the colleagues' speeches.
I hope that we can learn a bit from their experiences; positive as well as negative ones.
And I think that we should throw the positive experiences into the discussion in Germany.
Does the market need a more active competition due to the rising energy prices?
Dealing with the issue of competition on the gas market, one has to take the different levels into consideration.
Looking at the producer's side, we have relatively few producers providing gas for Europe.
First and foremost it is of course Russia, but there are also other countries, such as Norway and others.
This is one level on which we have to discuss this issue.
Looking at the level of final distributors, which is the level on which we in Germany have quite early begun to develop a competition,
we certainly have a leading role in Europe and we should use the "Oldenburger Gastage" to support Mr. Oettinger
and to also animate other countries in Europe to open their minds for the idea of competition more than it is the case at present.
On the background of the nuclear phaseout, I think that we indeed face extreme changes
and these will have a huge impact on our country in the coming years. I think one has to be clear about that.
The "Oldenburger Gastage" could be a signal for setting out towards positioning the issue of domestic gas in the right place.
The right place means that we have to put an emphasis on domestic gas in the areas of heat supply and generating electricity in the coming years.
Thus, I expect from the co-operation between the "Oldenburger Gastage" and the BDEW to set signals for a positive future for the issue of domestic gas.