Gas shortages force EU governments to rethink leak closures
At a crisis meeting, the Austrian government decided to reopen a shut-down coal-fired power plant due to power shortages caused by reduced gas supplies from Russia.
The Melah power plant, the country’s last coal-fired power plant, was shut down in the spring of 2020 as the government phased out polluting energy in a bid to switch to 100% renewable energy. Now, however, it will be reopened.
For the sixth day in a row, Italy will be left with a reduced supply of natural gas from Russia.
So far, Hungary is one of the few countries in the European Union that continues to receive full Russian gas.
Gazprom explains the reduction in the quantities supplied for both countries with technical problems. However, the authorities in the affected countries are adamant that this is political pressure from Moscow related to the war in Ukraine and the imposed Western sanctions.
