Huge amounts of synthetic fuels generated from renewable energies will be required to fully decarbonise the German economy, according to industry association BDI, which eyes yearly imports of 340 terawatt hours (TW\/h) by 2050 \u2013 the equivalent of Germany\u2019s entire power fleet.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor ambitious climate and energy targets, we will need Power-to-X in significant amounts,\u201d said Carsten Rolle, executive director at the World Energy Council Germany, and head of energy and climate policy at BDI, the German industry association.<\/p>\n
Power-to-X is a broad term referring to the transformation of electricity into synthetic gases \u2013 such as hydrogen, methane or other gases and liquids, according to the European Commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably the most powerful driver will be the transport sector,\u201d Rolle told journalists during a visit to Brussels last week, saying the heaviest users of synthetic fuels are expected in aviation and shipping, where electrification is not yet feasible, especially for long distances.<\/p>\n
Under EU projections, low-carbon electricity from renewables and nuclear should cover just over half of Europe\u2019s total energy demand by 2050, which leaves more than 40% for liquid fuels and other types of green gases, such as hydrogen.<\/p>\n
Those technologies \u201cbecome attractive in the context of abundant electricity generated from carbon-free sources\u201d such as wind, solar and nuclear power, the Commission said in its energy policy scenarios for 2050, published in November.<\/p>\n
But it is the import figures that BDI has in mind, which are truly eye-popping. Those are contained in a report for the World Energy Council Germany, published in October last year, which Rolle helped oversee.<\/p>\n
In Germany, one of the scenarios BDI\u00a0identified for 2050 points to \u201can import demand of 340 terawatt hours (TW\/h)\u00a0of efuels\u201d, Rolle said.<\/p>\n
This, he added, \u201cis broadly speaking equivalent to the\u00a0capacity of the\u00a0complete German power plant fleet\u00a0in order to produce hydrogen or others efuels\u00a0abroad for Germany\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to start a discussion\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s current energy consumption amounts to around 380 TW\/h, which means around 90% of the country\u2019s energy needs would be covered by imports at the current rate.<\/p>\n
The imports are expected to come\u00a0mainly\u00a0from places like\u00a0Australia, the Middle East, Africa or Latin America, which have a greater potential than Europe for renewables like solar and wind, Rolle said. And that\u2019s \u201conly for the purpose to produce hydrogen for Germany\u201d, he added.
\nRenewable power could make hydrogen cheaper than gas, study finds
\nHydrogen prices are set to fall dramatically if enough surplus solar and wind energy can be utilised in the gas\u2019s production, according to a new study which says hydrogen could even become cheaper than natural gas.<\/p>\n
According to the World Energy Council, the global market for Power-to-X could reach 10,000 TW\/h in 2050 under a low-case scenario. That would imply that\u00a040% of marine and aviation fuels are covered by Power-to-X. A \u201csmall amount\u201d of road freight and\u00a0industry\u00a0is\u00a0also included there, said Rolle.<\/p>\n
\u201cTechnology-wise, it\u2019s feasible but it requires other framework conditions than the ones we see today,\u201d he cautioned however. \u201cThat includes treating efuels equally to the direct use of renewable electricity in EU regulation for transport, for example, and needs close\u00a0cooperation with these\u00a0potential exporting\u00a0countries,\u201d Rolle said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to start a discussion about a roadmap,\u201d Rolle explained, saying the World Energy Council \u201chas put some important elements for that on the table\u201d that would\u00a0give investors\u00a0more\u00a0certainty about future market developments.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about creating a global market for Power-to-X,\u201d said Rolle.<\/p>\n
Europe looking into \u201cPower-to-X\u201d<\/p>\n
German industry is not alone in looking at \u201cPower-to-X\u201d as a way of decarbonising energy use. The Commission also gave attention to the technology in its long-term climate and energy strategy for 2050, published in November last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe potential advantage of power-to-X is that synthetic fuels can be stored and used in multiple ways across different economic sectors, where it is otherwise hard to decarbonise,\u201d such as industry and transport, the Commission said in its strategy.<\/p>\n
However, it also cautioned that synthetic fuel production is currently still an energy-intensive process which requires cheap electricity in abundant quantities.<\/p>\n
Europe\u2019s electricity sector is also showing interest in Power-to-X, especially for heavy industries like steelmaking, and in long-distance transport, which are both hard to electrify.
\nSwedish steel boss: \u2018Our pilot plant will only emit water vapour\u2019
\nA new pilot facility under construction in northern Sweden will produce steel using hydrogen from renewable electricity. The only emissions will be water vapour, explains the CEO of Hybrit, the company behind the process, which seeks to revolutionise steelmaking.<\/p>\n
But for trade association Eurelectric, the energy losses clearly represent \u201ca trade-off\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy definition, it\u2019s a process where you have conversion losses. You start off with electricity, and you then transform it into liquid form, which means you lose energy along the way,\u201d said Kristian Ruby, the secretary general of Eurelectric.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s especially the case when hydrogen is transformed back into electricity, because you have two conversions. That\u2019s why we see very limited use of hydrogen in the power sector \u2013 it\u2019s basically more expensive,\u201d Ruby told EURACTIV in a recent interview.<\/p>\n
This is also why Eurelectric\u2019s deepest decarbonisation scenario sees Power-to-X meeting only around 5% of Europe\u2019s total final energy consumption.<\/p>\n
But the World Energy Council holds a different view, saying production in sunny or windy regions of the world could be ramped up to become \u201csignificantly cheaper than P2X produced in Europe\u201d. Large-scale transport infrastructure is already in place, which means the cost for long distances \u201care relatively low,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cA global PtX market could be supplied by many potential producing countries,\u201d it says, citing Australia as a potential \u201cgiant\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to the World Energy Council, a mature global market for green synthetic fuels could easily reach a size of 10,000 to 20,000 TWh\/a by 2050, meeting around 50% of today\u2019s global demand for crude oil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Huge amounts of synthetic fuels generated from renewable energies will be required to fully decarbonise the German economy, according to industry association BDI, which eyes yearly imports of 340 terawatt hours (TW\/h) by 2050 \u2013 the equivalent of Germany\u2019s entire power fleet. \u201cFor ambitious climate and energy targets, we will need Power-to-X in significant amounts,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5829,10630,15133],"supplier":[91,15493],"class_list":["post-61206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-economy","tag-hydrogen","tag-power-to-gas","supplier-bundesverband-der-deutschen-industrie-ev","supplier-weltenergierat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61206"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=61206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}