Bavaria’s industry is facing special problems

Burghausen Anyone who meets Markus Söder these days will experience a thoughtful Bavarian Prime Minister. “It will be a cold winter,” says the CSU boss in view of the impending lack of gas. A week earlier he had supported the sanctions against Russia without ifs and buts, but the 55-year-old now says: “Anyone who wants to receive sanctions must ensure a permanent, reliable replacement.”

The Russian leadership is threatening to turn off the gas tap entirely – which poses particular problems for eastern and southern Germany, which obtain their natural gas from Russia via pipelines. The problem is particularly virulent in Bavaria – all the more so since Söder has long been in the state election campaign.

Bavaria won’t vote until autumn 2023, but for Söder it’s about political survival. If the mood in the country changes, it would not be good for the franc.

The situation is serious. Europe has drawn up an emergency plan, as has Germany. Government circles are talking about the “economic war”. The Federation of German Industries warns of a long-term gas shortage and calls for energy savings. Out of European solidarity alone, the country should “provide as much energy as possible itself, from all available sources” – i.e. including nuclear energy.

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Söder is also calling for the lifetimes of the nuclear reactors to be extended “until mid-2024”. He wants to have new fuel elements procured, since no one knows how long Russian President Vladimir Putin’s game with Europe will last.

>> Read also: BASF raises annual targets – and also relies on sufficient gas supplies in emergencies

The leader of the Greens, Britta Haßelmann, counters: “It’s obvious what people like Markus Söder are actually about: the withdrawal of the nuclear phase-out.”

Markus Söder makes demands on the federal government

Söder goes on the offensive. He calls on the federal government to fill the gas storage facilities and to build a terminal for liquid gas in Lubmin on the Baltic Sea in order to get gas from eastern to southern Germany. Via Wilhelmshaven and the west route, it threatens not to reach the south on the way through the industrial areas.

To make matters worse, Austria has also announced that it will tap its gas storage facility near Salzburg itself in the future and will not reserve it exclusively for Bavaria. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck (Greens) should find a binding solution with Austria, Söder demands.

The gas storage facility near Salzburg supplies Bavarian industry. Large companies such as BASF, Linde, OMV and Wacker Chemie produce in Burghausen in Upper Bavaria in the chemical triangle. Nothing works here without gas. “We live in a dramatic turning point,” says Wacker boss Christian Hartel.

Solar system on the premises of Wacker Chemie AG in Burghausen

The company produces silicon for solar systems, but needs natural gas to do so.

(Photo: Reuters)

With 14,000 employees worldwide, the company produces important basic materials, such as silicon for semiconductors and photovoltaic systems, primarily at home. According to Wacker, it consumes 0.5 percent of Germany’s electricity requirements and claims to be the world market leader in the field of semiconductors.

For Hartel, who is also CEO of the Bavarian Chemical Associations, the problems lie with politics: Green energies must be expanded quickly, including the railway line in the region, for which companies have been waiting for years.

The companies are also demanding a hydrogen pipeline, as Hartel clarifies. In the future, the gas will be replaced in this way.

>> Read also: New calculations: The gas will probably be enough “this winter and next”

Bavaria has long prevented new power lines. Hardly any wind turbines were built. Now 500 are to be added after Economics Minister Habeck took Söder to task in January.

Green electricity in Bavaria

Whether photovoltaic or geothermal: Söder now relies on green energy. But the plans do not help in the current crisis.

Like Söder, Wacker boss Hartel demands that the available gas be distributed fairly and not to forget the south if, instead of Russian gas, the energy source from Norway and the Netherlands or by ship from all over the world lands in the North German lowlands.

That’s not for sure. At least Klaus Müller, head of the responsible federal network agency, has not yet given the Bavarian state government a promise. “We see no basis for regional differences in gas supply, either from a regulatory or a logistical point of view,” complains Wacker boss Hartel. “No federal state may be disadvantaged here.”

Wacker Chemie’s largest production site is supplied with energy from its own gas and steam power plant. The plant is one of the largest buildings on the 2.3 square kilometer site and also keeps the power grid in the region stable. The work is therefore considered systemically important.

Hartel is counting on the company being given preferential gas supplies accordingly. Wacker could buy electricity. However, steam is generated from the gas, which is important for the production processes.

Söder can no longer use bad news. In the spring he already seemed to be a prime minister on call. The polls were lousy for CSU claims. Söder attributed this to Corona.

In Bavaria, a coalition government without the CSU seems possible in 2023

In the party, however, they refer to his behavior around the candidate for chancellor: he had organized a cat-and-mouse game with CDU leader Armin Laschet, as with Horst Seehofer in the fight for his successor as CSU leader and prime minister. After losing the federal election, the CSU dropped to 32 percent in the polls.

Söder has been traveling through the country for weeks and is conducting his personal election campaign. In the polls, the CSU is moving towards 40 percent again, but there are suddenly alternatives beyond a CSU government: SPD, Greens, FDP and Free Voters are eagerly collecting votes.

The AfD would also sit in parliament. For Söder, the question is all the more important at the moment: who will be held responsible for an energy crisis in Bavaria? The federal government – ​​or not the state government?

The mood in the CSU is not good, the party said. Especially in the south of the country, there is currently little motivation to campaign for the Franconian from the north of Bavaria.

The head of the largest and most powerful district association in Upper Bavaria comes into focus again: Ilse Aigner, who once lost the power struggle against Söder. “If she raises her hand, she wins,” predicts many CSU MPs.

However, there is currently no opportunity for a vote. And the President of the Landtag, Aigner, is on vacation in the Italian mountains.

More: As of today, Russia will throttle gas supplies – and Germany will still have to continue paying

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