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Dear readers,
as you may have noticed, autumn is upon us. The temperatures have given us some beautiful late summer days, but now the season is showing its usual side. With the rain and cooler temperatures, thoughts of the heating season are slowly but surely creeping in.
This brings us to our topic. Autumn is also a hot topic politically, as several important energy policy laws are up for discussion.
The energy transition is progressing, and hydrogen is more than ever in the spotlight. Austria is working on the legal framework for the market ramp-up with the Renewable Energy Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG), the new Hydrogen Promotion Act (WFöG) and accompanying regulations, while the ElWG is revising the electricity market rules – with immediate relevance for electrolysers and infrastructure projects. Unfortunately, the new GWG remains in the pipeline until these important legislative projects are completed.
At the same time, substantial investments are being made: hundreds of millions of euros in subsidies are to be channelled into production, networks and storage. However, despite this momentum, many questions remain unanswered – from regulatory design to financing. One thing is clear: the success of the hydrogen ramp-up will be decided in the coming years at the interface between legislation, market design and industry.
Geopolitically, the outlook remains bleak. Russia's war in Ukraine continues to be a terrible daily companion in the news and on the energy market.
Is this the end of gas from Russia?
The draft regulation presented by the European Commission aims to phase out all Russian gas and oil supplies by the end of 2027. However, reality shows that even after gas transit through Ukraine ends in early 2025, Russian gas will remain relevant for the EU – whether via pipelines such as Turkstream or as LNG. This dependence is particularly noticeable in South-Eastern Europe, where Hungary plays a central role as a hub.
Major challenges are already looming for Austria and the CEE region: bottlenecks in transport capacities, price premiums on the CEGH compared to Western European markets and the risk of increasing market fragmentation. At the same time, dependence on US LNG is growing, which now accounts for over 40% of European imports – and the trend is rising. There can therefore hardly be any talk of genuine diversification.
It also remains questionable whether an EU import ban would actually weaken Russia's war chest: it is more likely that Russia will seek alternative markets and Europe will be confronted with rising global LNG prices. Security of supply, price stability and geopolitical balance are thus equally under scrutiny.
What is the situation regarding storage levels and security of supply?
Just in time for the start of autumn, we have filled the storage facilities to around 85%, which is reassuring for the winter outlook.
What are we doing for the energy transition?
We have published new guidelines for grid access for renewable gases, as biomethane and hydrogen are set to make an important contribution to the energy transition.
The document accompanies plant operators step by step on their way into the gas grid – from finding a location to commissioning.
This measure supports our mission statement: ‘Managing the gas grid of today. Shaping the energy infrastructure of tomorrow.’
We also had an exciting conversation with Christoph Klade, Logistics Sustainability Consultant at Brau Union Österreich AG, which is now relying on bio-CNG for its logistics fleet.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue and look forward to your feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Yours sincerely, AGGM
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Important news
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Good to know
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AGGM in dialogue with the market
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Important News
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Approval of the Long-Term and Integrated Plan 2024
Following an intensive approval process lasting several months, the Long-Term and Integrated Plan 2024 (LTiP) developed by AGGM has now been officially approved by E-Control.
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TYNDP 2025 – an overview
ENTSOG publishes draft of the 2024 Ten-Year Network Development Plan for natural gas.
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AGGM receives ÖVGW certification for calorific value determination
We are pleased to announce that we have successfully completed the initial audit in accordance with ÖVGW AGB V30 and are now recognized as an ÖVGW-certified company for calorific value determination.
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Good to know
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New guide to feeding biomethane and hydrogen into the grid: Your path to the renewable gas network
We are pleased to present our new folder, ‘Grid access for biomethane & hydrogen’. This practical guide accompanies plant operators through the entire process of feeding renewable gases into the Austrian gas network.
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New features of the AGGM platform for increased awareness of supplier-balance group assignments
AGGM's one-stop shop for the registration and management of market participants also offers digital solutions for assigning suppliers to balance group managers and their balance groups.
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Balancing report 2023/24
Together with the balancing entities AGCS and A&B, AGGM has published the Balancing Report for the gas year 2023/24 on its website (only German).
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E-Control report on outage and disruption statistics for Austria 2025
On 12 August 2025, E-Control published the latest gas outage and disruption statistics. The report assesses the year 2024 and provides detailed key figures on the reliability of the Austrian gas supply. It offers a comprehensive overview of supply security and shows how stable the domestic gas network is, even in a challenging environment.
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Connection of the Haidach storage facility to the Austrian gas network
The Haidach gas storage facility's grid connection to network level 1 of the Austrian Eastern Market Area has been in operation since October 2024. This means that gas stored in the Haidach storage facility can also be withdrawn in the Eastern Market Area.
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AGGM in dialogue with the market
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Interview with Christoph Klade, Logistics Sustainability Consultant at Brau Union Österreich AG
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©2026 AGGM Austrian Gas Grid Management AG
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