- 28 Aug 2020
Gas Storage Bergermeer granted permission to increase gas storage
Following a two-year-long permitting process, the Netherland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate has granted TAQA permission to store more gas at its Gas Storage Bergermeer (GSB) facility, enabling the company to further optimize its use of GSB.
Due to the current low gas prices, demand for gas storage is high across Europe. TAQA expects to store 2.5 terawatt hours (TWh) of extra gas volumes beginning Q4 2020 for the remainder of this storage year. The extra capacity will bring GSB’s total maximum capacity to 48.1 TWh, which roughly equals the annual gas consumption of more than 2.5 million Dutch households.
TAQA is committed to the reliable and secure provision and distribution of energy, which makes GSB a highly strategic asset for the Group. Natural gas will continue to play an important role in providing heat and electricity across the Netherlands and meeting peak demand, particularly as the country increases its reliance on sustainable energy sources. Gas storage facilities play an important role in the country as well to store imported gas until it is needed.
This happens within a context of moves to increase imports of gas in the Netherlands, as the country shifted from net exporter to net importer about two years earlier.
Gas Storage Bergermeer is Europe’s largest open-access gas storage facility. Full commercial storage operations started in April 2015. TAQA is the operator and acts as the marketing agent for all storage capacity with a 60% interest with EBN holding the remaining 40%.