The Austrian newspaper, Der Standard, today published an article in which Christoph Riechmann and Walter Boltz of Frontier (Europe) discuss the future of natural gas in Europe.

The article highlights that gas may have a future also in a decarbonized world. They observe increasing resistance against the power grid expansion necessary to transport large amounts of green electricity to load centres. Instead the existing gas infrastructure can be used to transport large amounts of green energy in the climate-friendly forms of synthetic gas and biogas. Walter Boltz and Christoph Riechmann propose that gas network operators should be placed in a position which allows them to experiment with the new power-to-gas technology on an industrial scale. However, certain amendments to the regulatory framework (e.g. unbundling rules) are required before this can happen.

Frontier (Europe) regularly advises public and private sector clients on issues relating to energy and climate policy.

For more information, please contact Miriam Rau (m.rau@frontier-economics.com, +49 221 337 130)