bmw
The automotive industry needs natural gas for the drying ovens in the paint shop, among other things.
(Photo: dpa)
According to production director Milan Nedeljkovic, BMW is at risk of standstill if the gas supply is reduced. “Around 37 percent of German natural gas consumption is attributable to our branch of industry,” Nedeljkovic told the Reuters news agency. “So not only BMW, but the entire automotive industry would come to a standstill.” The company is currently monitoring the volatile situation closely and is in contact with the authorities and suppliers.
In the event of a shortage of natural gas, the Federal Network Agency must decide in which order companies will continue to be supplied or not. The President of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, recently explained that the protected customers include not only the fire brigade, hospitals, the police, schools, day care centers, prisons and the armed forces, but also all private households with a gas consumption of up to 10,000 kilowatt hours of gas per year.
Swimming pools and other recreational facilities are among the first businesses to be shut off. According to insiders, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) wants the federal government to have a concept in place so that companies that are particularly dependent on the fuel can continue to operate in the event of a gas emergency.
The automotive industry needs natural gas for the drying ovens in the paint shop, among other things. BMW is currently building a new plant in Debrecen, Hungary, which will operate entirely without natural gas. A combination of electricity and heat exchangers should be used for the dryers there, Nedeljkovic said. BMW is increasingly relying on solar energy there and is also investigating the possibilities of geothermal energy.
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“We want to make intensive use of the potential of the energy source hydrogen in our Leipzig plant,” said Nedeljkovic. Hydrogen is very well suited to reducing gas requirements and even completely compensating for them. “Together with the city, we plan to install infrastructure and bring hydrogen to the plant on a large scale.”
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