The regulatory authority E-Control (ECA) - as one of the central participants in the regulated natural gas market - is confronted with a large number of complex requirements. Some of the tasks already relate to preparatory activities for the intended ramp-up of the hydrogen economy. How does the ECA manage to overcome these challenges while maintaining a consistently high level of quality, how are the relevant framework conditions assessed and what "next steps" are expected? In order to assess these questions, we conducted an interview with the head of the gas department, Dr Carola Millgramm, and the following is what she had to say.

power2market: The gas sector in particular is currently changing quite rapidly, keyword: climate neutrality 2040. E-Control's gas department is involved in the development of the gas networks as part of national and international network development planning, security of natural gas supply, is involved in setting tariffs for infrastructure utilisation and is working on the planned hydrogen ramp-up in Austria - to name just a few areas of responsibility. How does this team manage all these tasks with regard to the necessary specialised knowledge, the required resources and the associated motivation for this variety of tasks?

Dr Carola Millgramm: I took over the gas department in 2018, at that time already with very well-trained, experienced and committed employees in the team. With the 2022 crisis, we went through a "team building" process that showed us where we needed to work together even better and then also built up additional expertise for this with new employees. For the new tasks that come with the regulation of an emerging hydrogen market, we need to build up and expand our technical expertise in particular - much of the regulatory work can be transferred, and the expertise and experience is already available.

For me, it is important that a team is made up of different and diverse members - it needs employees who have technical as well as economic expertise in the gas and hydrogen market, employees who strategically drive the topics forward as well as those who prepare the topics in detail and at length. And cross-departmental cooperation is also a key building block for good regulatory results at E-Control. At E-Control we have a broad spectrum of interesting tasks in shaping the energy system of the future and at the same time a very high level of motivation to move from talk to action and implement important issues.

Compared to the last two warm winters, the gas storage facilities have emptied more this winter. The gas storage facilities will have to be refilled in summer/autumn 2025. Do you expect prices during the refilling phase to be in line with the current price level or could they even rise? How does the gas department view Germany's request for a (partial) exemption from the obligatory filling level?

The storage level in Austria was 44 TWh on 26 March, which is approx. 43% of the storage capacities in Austria. However, the injection requirement this summer will be higher than in recent years if a storage level similar to that on 1 November 2024 (96 TWh) is to be achieved again.

Austria will meet the mandatory EU requirements even with a lower initial filling level. A storage level lower than 90% is sufficient to secure the gas supply in Austria, also because the uncertainties from previous years (e.g. Russian gas supplies being stopped) no longer exist.

In Austria, storage customers are not obliged to utilise their storage contracts according to fixed patterns. In our view, this has the advantage that the value of storage is not limited to seasonal variation, but can achieve a higher value through short-term trading and flexible utilisation of the storage contract. Therefore, in our view, a more flexible approach to achieving storage targets at EU level can support economic incentives to fill storage.

One of the key issues is the planned phase-out of fossil fuels - including natural gas. What role should/could your team play in gas network decommissioning planning?

The decommissioning of the gas grid is part of the transformation of the gas grid and the energy system. One aim of the transformation must be to minimise the economic costs. This can only be achieved through coordinated and efficient planning of the transformation of the gas networks with the participation of all stakeholders in the heating market and energy market. Legal adjustments are necessary to enable an efficient transformation process (obligation for municipal heat planning and decommissioning planning, abolition of the connection obligation, capacity reduction projects in network development planning).

Planning the transformation of the gas grid can only be part of overall planning across the various energy consumption sectors and must take into account the alternatives available to end customers. However, E-Control's responsibilities as a regulatory authority only relate to the electricity and gas markets. Synchronisation of network costs and lower transport volumes/network users are crucial for the future development of network charges - a redimensioning of the gas network in line with changes in demand is essential for a stable development of charges. E-Control will examine these developments in detail as part of its regulatory activities and take them into account when setting system charges.

The planned phase-out of natural gas will reduce the number of cost units and consequently increase the specific costs of using the gas grid. Is E-Control working within the European framework to solve this complex task?

We believe it is important to learn from the experiences of other countries. That's why we regularly exchange information with other regulatory authorities in our committees (ACER, CEER), but also bilaterally with other regulatory authorities on specific issues relating to tariffs for declining gas volumes in the network.

How does the gas department assess the progress made so far with regard to the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy? What hurdles need to be overcome? Have working groups been set up at European level in co-operation with the regulators?

One essential prerequisite for the ramp-up is missing in Austria, namely the legal framework for the hydrogen market, based on the implementation of the EU decarbonisation package. Only with this can a national and EU hydrogen market continue to develop. So far, there are mainly research projects, which are also important, but no commercial projects for green hydrogen production and use. In the infrastructure sector, too, there are only plans so far, and technical issues still need to be clarified. We hope that a new legal framework will make further development steps possible, including through greater investment security.

At EU level, regulators are working together to discuss market developments and the design of the regulatory framework, which will certainly be intensified in the future. Austria has concrete projects with Germany and Italy on the southern corridor, for example.

Hydrogen storage in underground storage facilities - pore storage in Austria - has not yet been prominently discussed. Can you give readers an update in this direction?

There are still a lot of technical issues to be clarified with regard to hydrogen storage. What is certain is that the seasonal shift in renewable electricity generation, which makes hydrogen storage possible, is an important building block in a decarbonised energy system of the future. As the regulatory authority, we also welcome the fact that storage companies are active in the field of hydrogen storage research with innovative projects.