Capacity4Gas Project
Capacity4Gas Project Contributes to Securing Energy Supplies
The rationale behind pursuing the Capacity4Gas Project is the widening gas supply/demand gap in Europe. In its 2016 report, the International Energy Agency estimated that, due to decreasing gas production in Europe, by 2030 there would be an additional need for gas imports from non-European sources of approximately 100 billion cubic meters per year (12 times the overall annual consumption of the Czech Republic). This gap can be filled by a combination of liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports and pipeline gas.
In this context, the Capacity4Gas Project is part of a larger initiative to have secure and cost-efficient access to gas supplies via additional pipeline capacities, especially in the Baltic Sea. Simultaneously, the newly-created infrastructure in the Czech Republic will be made available to all interested market participants on a fully transparent and non-discriminatory basis for the transportation of any kind of natural gas from producing countries, e.g. Norway, Russia, and the United States. Therefore, the Capacity4Gas Project will contribute to enhancing the security of gas supplies in the Czech Republic and in the entire CEE region. At the same time, the project will further strengthen the strategic role of the Czech Republic in international gas transit.
As the significant market demand for new long-term gas transmission capacity was confirmed in a binding European-wide capacity auction held on the PRISMA platform in March 2017, the Capacity4Gas Project has entered its implementation phase in full coordination with the adjacent gas transmission system operators in Germany and Slovakia. The on-site construction activities started in 2018.
Capacity4Gas Project Brings Major Investments to the Czech Republic
The objective of the Capacity4Gas Project is to build new gas infrastructure, mainly in the Ústí and Pilsen Regions, and to connect it to the current transmission system and the EUGAL pipeline in Germany. The project increases the transmission capacity (at entry roughly by 35 bcm/year) for the needs of gas supplies to the Czech Republic and further transit via Slovakia. The new infrastructure will be connected to the current Czech transmission system at various locations, allowing for natural gas deliveries to the domestic distribution system. The project is implemented in two stages, with completion scheduled for the end of 2019 for the first stage and roughly one year later for the second stage.
Capacity4Gas Project Animation Map