What the environmental associations say about the climate package
Published
53:27 min - posted on Sep 23, 2019
Representatives of the environmental associations give their views on the Federal Government's climate package at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin, including Kai Niebert (President of Deutscher Naturschutzring), Hubert Weiger (Chairman of Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland e.V.), Martin Kaiser (Managing Director of Greenpeace Deutschland), Silvie Kreibiehl (Chairwoman of the Board of Germanwatch), Michael Schäfer (Head of Climate and Energy WWF), Sascha Müller-Kraenner (Managing Director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe) and Christoph Heinrich (Director of Nature Conservation WWF).
In a team with the architects Dietrich|Untertrifaller, the office Ramboll Studio Dreiseitl won the multiple commission from Freiburger Stadtbau GmbH for the Metzgergrün quarter. The estate is to change significantly over the next ten years and develop into a contemporary quarter with around 500 apartments, without losing its original character. The jury praised the design as follows: "This urban composition of residential courtyards, socio-spatial centre, high-quality and differentiated usable open spaces, new interconnections and correct pathways has the potential to create a model and future-oriented quarter."
Energiedienst's power-to-gas plant in Grenzach-Wyhlen is allowed to produce emission-free hydrogen from green electricity as of today. Photo: energiedienst.de
At a hydroelectric power plant operated by the energy company Energiedienst in Grenzach-Wylen, the production of green hydrogen has been running successfully for four months. The project produces 500 kilograms of hydrogen per day.
Hydrogen from hydropower: successful start for one of the largest power-to-gas plants in Germany to date. This is reported by the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW). The megawatt plant has been in operation for four months in April 2020 and is functioning reliably. A research electrolyser connected to it is also running successfully. The ZSW is coordinating the project. The operator of the commercial plant is the energy supplier Energiedienst AG.
The power-to-gas plant with an electrical connected load of one megawatt produces renewable hydrogen using electricity from the Rhine hydroelectric power plant in Wyhlen. Since it is not necessary to use the public electricity grid, grid fees and the EEG surcharge do not apply. In addition, high full load hours can be achieved because the hydropower is available practically around the clock. This further improves the economic efficiency and enables extensive operating experience to be gained quickly.
He said the plant has been running regularly since early December 2019 and has had 1,850 hours of operation since then. Previously, it was in trial operation. The monitoring system set up by the ZSW, which measures all essential components and subsystems, functions perfectly. The plant operates fully automatically in 24-hour operation both at full load and in various partial load conditions.
Efficiency of 66 percent
The ZSW monitors operation with the help of remote data transmission to Stuttgart and automated data evaluation. The overall efficiency of electricity to high-purity hydrogen compressed to 300 bar is currently up to 66 percent in relation to the calorific value of the gas. In addition, the researchers are investigating ageing effects and deriving potential improvements from the data.
So far, the plant has filled 62 trailers with hydrogen suitable for fuel cells. Each of these transportable containers holds around 300 kilograms. The plant can produce up to 500 kilograms of hydrogen per day. This is enough for an average daily mileage of more than 1,000 fuel cell cars.
Improved electrolysis
The research project docked to the commercial plant is also progressing positively. In a research plant, the scientists are testing improved electrolysis blocks with a maximum output of 300 kilowatts in parallel operation with the commercial plant. They should further reduce the price of hydrogen. But companies could also test and optimize components there.
Last year, the ZSW and its research partners already achieved an initial success during the test operation of the plant: with new electrode coatings, the researchers achieved 20 percent more power density compared to the electrolysis blocks of the industrial plant section. This means that less volume and material are required for the same output.
Goal: Halve hydrogen price
Since the investment costs are also based on the construction volume and the electrolysis units account for the largest share of costs in the conversion of renewable electricity at around 40 percent, progress in this area is automatically reflected in the price of hydrogen. For manufacturers of electrolysis plants, development is therefore an important factor for further cost reduction. The long-term goal of the ZSW researchers and Energiedienst engineers is to roughly halve the current production costs of electricity-based hydrogen.
The state of Baden-Württemberg supports the Lighthouse project with a total of 4.5 million euros. In 2019, a project based on this was selected by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology as one of the winners of the first round of the "Reallabore der Energiewende" ideas competition. A total of twelve partners are on board for this major project.
In 2018, Deutsche Bahn fed 57 percent green electricity into the grid. This is an increase of 13 percent in electricity from renewable energies compared to the previous year. DB is thus already the largest consumer of green electricity in Germany.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE presented the fourth edition of their study on the cost price of electricity from renewable sources on March 20, 2018. In it, they analyze current costs and forecast further developments based on technology-specific learning rates and market scenarios up to the year 2035. "The cost forecasts of the previous studies have been confirmed.
The cost price of electricity from renewable energies is falling continuously and is no longer an obstacle to CO₂-free electricity generation. Newly constructed photovoltaic plants and onshore wind turbines at favourable locations are already cheaper than fossil-fuel power plants, and this trend will increase significantly by 2035," says project manager Dr Christoph Kost.
The ever-improving competitive position of renewables is leading to new applications and rapidly growing markets that are no longer dependent on subsidies. On the other hand, the full-load hours of conventional power plants continue to decline due to a higher share of renewables, which drives up their costs. In addition, fuel and CO2-certificate prices. "It can be assumed that not necessarily the cheapest conventional form of generation will exist on the market to complement the fluctuating renewables, but the one that can show a high flexibility in terms of start-up and shut-down variability, i.e. preferably power plants based on natural gas", says Dr. Christoph Kost.
Currently, PV systems achieve electricity production costs of between 3.71 and 11.54 € cents/kWh, depending on the system type and global radiation - which in Germany is between 950 and 1,300 kWh/(m²a). The specific system costs are between €600 and €1,400/kWp, depending on the system type.
From 2030 onwards, the LCOE for PV systems will fall below 4.7 cents/kWh for
rooftop systems or 2.41 € cents/kWh for ground-mounted systems. The specific system costs will fall to between €350 and €815/kWp by 2035.
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