Urgently sought by business: more renewable energies
While some in politics and the public still believe that they are doing Greta a favor with more renewables, the calls of the economy for a much faster expansion of renewable energies are getting louder. Who are the actors and what is behind them?
RE100 - global large companies want 100% Renewable The RE100 initiative I mentioned in the last blog, and was asked again to respond. This initiative was founded by companies that are among the largest in the world. An entry requirement is 'Fortune 1000 listed or comparable' - translates comparable to the ranking of the 1,000 largest US companies: at least 100 GWh / a electricity demand and nationally / globally known brand. No wonder that this logo collection contains many friends here.
The wave of very large companies joining the RE100 is growing rapidly; there are now 207 - and new ones appear on the website every day. The goals are different, in terms of route and time to reach 100%. But that's also logical, because just snap your finger and you're at 100% renewables is difficult.
What an impressive statement from global commercial companies, which is already clearly reflected in the market for unsupported renewable energies in the EU. And it finds strong expression here in cooperation with the EU solar and wind associations.
EU: Massive increase in demand from companies At the beginning of October, this year's RE-Source 2019 conference took place in Amsterdam with more than 1,000 participants. The subject of the conference are EU-wide PPAs (Power Purchase Agreements) - and here primarily those between companies and producers. Resource event
The - as in 2018 - very large number of participants signals the great interest in this step - to sell renewables directly and without state funding. In fact, the market for corporate PPA in the EU has grown significantly - to just under 8 GW capacity, of which only around 60 MW in Germany.
The RE-Source platform, supported by the EU umbrella organizations for solar and wind energy, offers further studies and documents on the subject of corporate PPA: Resource platform
A very powerful player in German industry A very powerful player in Germany, the Association of the German Automotive Industry (VDA) is only slowly becoming louder. However, it is becoming increasingly clear from the member companies, above all VW, that the expansion of renewable energies and the associated infrastructure for electromobility must be much faster and more courageous. No wonder, since VW and Co. are currently investing billions in electromobility. Electric drives will replace the inefficient and, in comparison, less dynamic combustion engines - whether on the battery or hydrogen route. For example, Daimler recently announced that it would use hydrogen for trucks in addition to the battery for cars. Article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung
Whether hydrogen or battery - massive green electricity is needed for this, and so the mobility providers quickly increase the pressure; Deutsche Bahn is also beginning to buy massively more green electricity in steps and is probably also opening its own power grid for direct feed-in.
Exchange of process energy and the hydrogen economy In the sometimes religious discussions “Battery vs. Hydrogen ”, especially in vehicles or for stationary storage, is often forgotten that hydrogen is already omnipresent in the chemical industry. So building a massive green hydrogen industry is essential anyway; Quantities and know-how will be massively fed from this technology, and so it should be clear to everyone that even the vehicles have not yet sung a trade fair. The green H2 race is open globally, but completely open - and this time Germany can do a lot to stay ahead.
Without hydrogen, for example, there would be no fertilizers - and so it is estimated that the production of hydrogen from natural gas is currently responsible for approx. 3% of global CO2 emissions: There is already a broad field for a meaningful exchange of 'blue' with 'green' hydrogen through the rapid further development of processes based on renewable electricity.
The change in steel production from the use of coking coal to hydrogen also offers an important perspective for decarbonization. The technology is currently being developed in pilot projects by various steel producers: Salco's project from Salzgitter . Thyssenkrupp and its partners at carbon2chem are taking the opposite route.
If the previous crude steel coking coal is converted to the hydrogen route, the demand for renewable energies in Germany alone is estimated at 120 TWh / a. So about 2.5 times the performance of today's PV installations. Or to put it another way: We need 120 GWp PV for steel production - we can do that here in Germany if you let us, at very good prices.
There is a lot to do, because many other process energies have to be decarbonized in steps - an overview: IREES process emissions.
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