A New Pipeline to Be Built in the Czech Republic.
RWE Transgas Net has officially announced its intention to build a new pipeline between the border delivery stations Hora Sv. Kateřiny, located in the Giant Mountains, and German Waidhaus. Thanks to an increased capacity of the Czech high-pressure pipeline network, the company will be able to participate in the transmission of Russian natural gas through the Baltic Sea, using the northern stream. The project plan is to connect the Czech transit system to OPAL, a new German pipeline which will be directly connected to the Baltic pipeline “Nord Stream”. The development of a new pipeline will bring domestic customers further diversification of natural gas flows and a higher security of supplies. RWE Transgas Net estimates the required investment to be CZK 15 billion.
“The project will be carried out if the construction of a new pipeline under the Baltic Sea is definitely approved. If this happens, we will start to build a new pipeline in the Czech Republic in about two years. The transmission capacity would gradually increase between 2011 and 2015,” says Prof. Dr. Klaus Homann, the Executive and CEO of RWE Transgas Net, s.r.o. “We are in the stage of planning and this also involves to determine if there is potential demand for the new capacity,” continues Homann.
According to RWE Transgas Net there are three possible routes for the new pipeline. These are located in the regions of Ústí nad Labem, Karlovy Vary, Plzeň and Central Bohemia (Prague). The next step will bring negotiations with approximately 5,000 land owners. “Pipeline construction involves minimal land required – very often it is not more than a stretch of 30 meters,” says Jan Nehoda, another Executive of RWE Transgas Net. “Once the construction has finished, the land is usually returned to its original use. Two years after the first excavation nobody can tell there is a pipeline underground.”
The Nord Stream project might play an important role in European gas supplies as a new gas transmission line might increase the security of supplies. The development of a northern line was identified by the European Union in the Trans-European Networks program as “a project of common interest”. In legal acts relevant to this program, the members states agreed to take all measures they consider necessary in order to simplify and facilitate the process.
Nord Stream is planned to be finished in 2011. After that the Baltic line and pipelines of interconnected European states would deliver up to 55 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year.
Mgr. Jitka Kadavá,
PR RWE Transgas Net, s.r.o.
T 267 973 260
E: jitka.kadava@rwe.cz
RWE Transgas Net, s.r.o., is part of the multinational utility group RWE. The company was established on 1 January 2006 when natural gas transmission and trade were unbundled pursuant to the Czech Energy Act. RWE Transgas Net, s.r.o., is an independent company responsible for safe and reliable domestic transmission of natural gas and natural gas transit to other countries.
Natural gas transmitted by RWE Transgas Net, s.r.o., in the Czech Republic uses a pipeline system of 3,642 km. Natural gas is the most environmentally friendly of all renewable energy sources. Unlike solid fuels, natural gas burns cleanly, i.e. without ash and environmentally hazardous substances.