DVGW Vicepresident Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Homann opens the 46th gat, November 13th 2007 in Karlsruhe.

Stand of DVGW and BDEW

Event becomes increasingly international

Bonn / Karlsruhe, 19 November 2007- The 46th gat gas conference, held in Karlsruhe on 13 to 14 November 2007, once again proved to be the key forum for the German gas industry. Some 2,500 industry representatives, including 150 from other countries, took advantage of gat to obtain information on the latest technical developments and energy policy objectives. In his opening address, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus Homann, Vice-President of DVGW, stated that natural gas had a key role to play in the achievement of climate protection objectives. He said that it would be necessary to bring existing technologies to the point where they were ready for widespread use by making appropriate investments. Furthermore, Prof. Homann gave a warning that the system of incentive regulation as it was presently proposed and the threat of ownership unbundling could jeopardize the safety of gas networks. At the same time, he stressed the role of technical self-regulation as the most efficient, proven way of ensuring high safety levels during the transmission and use of natural gas. He said that DVGW would do everything in its power to ensure that its system of technical standards retained its importance despite or rather because of the pressure on costs. ( complete speech (German) (PDF, 35 KB))

Michael Feist, the President of the new Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW - Federal Association of the Energy and Water Industry), underlined the key role of bio-methane in climate protection. He said that this fuel, produced from renewable resources, could easily be used in the combined generation of power and heat and that it was the ideal supplement to natural gas on the heat energy market. It was therefore all the more difficult to understand why the white paper for a new Renewable Energy Act virtually excluded the use of bio-methane as a household fuel. There were no economic or ecological reasons for placing bio-methane at a disadvantage. In view of the third internal energy market package of the EU Commission, Feist stressed that ownership unbundling, a proposal that had frequently been made, would not result in higher investments, more competition or lower prices. He said that this was confirmed by examples from Denmark and Great Britain. In addition, he viewed with concern the intention of the EU commissioners to extend their regulatory powers beyond the network itself to other areas. ( complete speech (German) (PDF, 106 KB))

Two new discussion forums chaired by TV presenter Brigitte Bastgen in the style of a talk show proved to be especially popular. The topics were: "EU Commission proposals for the single energy market"  (photos) and "State regulation and its effects on technical safety" (photos).  This form of dialogue was found to produce statements which were especially interesting and very clear. In the second forum, participants stated a wide range of opinions on the cost of these measures, but they all considered safety to be the top priority. Homan stressed that there was no substitute for an effective system of technical standards. Dr. Gerrit Volk of the Federal Network Agency also confirmed that the regulatory authority shared this view. He added that no intervention with respect to technical self-regulation was to be expected. He said that there was no reason for any changes as long as everything worked perfectly well. Dr. Gerd von Laffert of the Bavarian Energy Authority said that companies, the Federal Network Agency and the Energy Authority were all equally interested in safe systems. He concluded that it would be possible to limit costs at the same time as maintaining safety levels if everyone adopted a positive approach to the problem.

Technical presentations on the latest developments in the gas industry are another familiar feature of the gat conference. About 1,500 delegates took the opportunity to intensify their specialist knowledge.

Apart from the high-quality papers presented, the exhibition held during the conference in a hall with an area of about 5,000 square metres provided ample opportunity for the presentation of new technologies as well as for bilateral technical discussions. The increasingly international character of gat was underlined by the fact that simultaneous English interpreting was available for the first time at this year's event. This service was welcomed by the participants from other countries. The next gat is to be held in Dortmund on 11 and 12 November 2008.

Photos and slide show from gat 2007

Archive of presentations - Exclusively for participants in gat