Greens doubt the sense of the alliance for affordable housing
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Has Federal Building Minister Barbara Hendricks (SPD) raised expectations with the Alliance for Affordable Housing and Building that ultimately cannot be fulfilled? The Bündnis 90/ Die Grünen parliamentary group in the Bundestag is investigating her doubts about the meaningfulness and effectiveness of the alliance in a question. And they want to know: How and when will the alliance be continued?
Heliatek, the world's leading provider of organic solar energy solutions, announces that its award-winning technology has been certified by TÜV Rheinland as having a carbon footprint of less than 16 kg CO2e/m2 in a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). For a sustainable future in the face of ever increasing climate change, the planet's growing energy needs must be met by environmentally friendly low carbon energy sources. Heliatek has developed industrial grade organic solar films that are suitable for almost any building surface and help to significantly avoid greenhouse gas emissions.
After less than 3 months, the organic solar films studied already save the CO2e (CO2 equivalent) produced during the entire life cycle, from production to disposal. "We can proudly announce that we offer one of the most environmentally friendly ways to generate electricity and significantly avoid greenhouse gas emissions. The unique composition of our organic solar films without toxic materials and with PET based protective films makes even the disposal of the modules at the end of their life easy and at the same time environmentally conscious," says Guido van Tartwijk, CEO of Heliatek.
In order to compare the carbon footprint with other solar technologies, all results must be converted into g CO2e/kWh. This value takes into account the lifetime electricity generation for a given location. For Southern Europe, HeliaSol® has a carbon footprint of only 5-7 g CO2e/kWh (7-9 g CO2e/kWh in Central Europe) and thus already significantly undercuts all current solar technologies.
Fig.: Heliatek
Global Carbon Footprint of HeliaSol®
Standard modules based on crystalline silicon achieve values of 40 - 100 g CO2e/kWh depending on the installation site and the origin of the modules. "With the planned improvement in our efficiency, we will further reduce the carbon footprint of our product to become the energy source with the lowest CO2 footprint - including hydropower, wind and solar energy. This is a truly green product," says Jan Birnstock, CTO of Heliatek.
Heliatek is currently installing the new production line for the series production of its unique OPV solar films. The production line is in the start-up phase and will produce organic solar films with an annual capacity of up to 1 million m² from mid-2020.
About the TÜV Rheinland life cycle assessment
TÜV Rheinland has certified Heliatek's HeliaSol® , as one of the first companies in the solar industry, in a life cycle assessment according to ISO 14040/44. This analysis provides a structured and comprehensive method for quantifying energy and material flows and their potential environmental impact. The LCA analyzes the environmental impact of all phases of a product's life, from raw material procurement, through production and use, to disposal at the end of the product's life, including all transport and delivery routes ("cradle-to-grave"). All site-related conversions of the TÜV values were carried out by Heliatek.
The TÜV Rheinland certificate is available online at the ID number below and can be accessed by scanning the following QR code:
About Heliatek
As the technology leader in organic photovoltaics, Heliatek develops, produces and distributes industrial organic PV solar solutions for almost any building surface (horizontal, vertical, curved, rigid and flexible). Heliatek is synonymous with energy solutions designed for various traditional applications that were previously impossible due to their unique properties - they are ultra-light, flexible and truly green. HeliaSol® is a ready-made solution, ideal for retrofitting existing buildings. HeliaFilm® is a tailor-made solar film for companies in the construction and building materials industries, which can be integrated into their façade or roofing system products. Heliatek currently employs around 150 people at its sites in Dresden and Ulm in Germany.
Research and development work as well as the installation of production technology were supported by the Free State of Saxony, the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union.
On 1 February 2021, the amendment to the Bavarian Building Code came into force. In the future, the building material wood can be used in all building classes. The legal changes make building in Bavaria easier and faster, more space-saving and more cost-effective.
Net public electricity generation reached a record share of 59.7 per cent in 2023. The share of the load was 57.1 per cent. This is the result of an analysis presented today by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. New records were set for wind and solar power in 2023. In contrast, generation from lignite (-27 per cent) and hard coal (-35 per cent) fell sharply. Photovoltaics stood out in the expansion of generation capacity: at around 14 gigawatts, the expansion was in double digits for the first time and significantly exceeded the German government's statutory climate protection target. Source of the data is the platform energy-charts.info
Photovoltaic systems generated approx. 59.9 TWh in 2023, of which 53.5 TWh was fed into the public grid and 6.4 TWh was used for self-consumption. At around 9 TWh, June 2023 was the month with the highest solar power generation ever. The maximum solar output of 40.1 GW was reached on 7 July at 13:15, which corresponded to a 68% share of electricity generation. In 2023, the expansion of photovoltaics significantly exceeded the German government's targets: instead of the planned 9 gigawatts, 13.2 gigawatts were installed by November; according to preliminary data, this will be more than 14 gigawatts by the end of 2023. This is a sharp increase compared to 2022 (7.44 GW). This means that PV expansion in Germany has reached double digits for the first time.
The Hydropower increased from 17.5 TWh in 2022 to 20.5 TWh. The installed capacity of 4.94 GW has hardly changed compared to previous years.
The Biomass at 42.3 TWh was at the level of 2022 (42.2 TWh). The installed capacity is 9 GW.
In total, the renewable energies approx. 260 TWh in 2023, around 7.2 per cent more than in the previous year (242 TWh). The share of renewable energy generated in Germany in the load, i.e. the electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket, was 57.1 per cent compared to 50.2 per cent in 2022. In addition to net public electricity generation, total net electricity generation also includes in-house generation by industry and commerce, which is mainly generated using gas. The share of renewable energies in total net electricity generation, including the power plants of "businesses in the manufacturing, mining and quarrying sectors", is around 54.9 per cent (2022: 48.2 per cent).
The Load in the electricity grid totalled 457 TWh, around 26 TWh less than in 2022. Due to the high electricity prices and higher temperatures, electricity was probably saved significantly. The increase in self-consumption of solar power is also reducing the load. The load includes the electricity consumption and grid losses, but not the pumped-storage power consumption and the self-consumption of conventional power plants.
Sharp decline in coal-fired power
After German coal-fired power plants ramped up their production in 2022 - due to the outage of French nuclear power plants, but also due to the distortions in the electricity market caused by the war in Ukraine - their share fell significantly in 2023. As a result, generation in November 2023 was 27 per cent below the same month in the previous year due to the drop in coal-fired electricity exports, but also because of the good wind conditions.
Overall, production from Lignite for public electricity consumption fell by around 27 per cent, from 105.9 to 77.5 TWh. This is in addition to 3.7 TWh for industrial own consumption. Gross electricity generation fell to the level of 1963.
Net production from Hard coal-fired power plants for public electricity consumption was 36.1 TWh (-35 per cent) and 0.7 TWh for industrial own consumption. It was 21.4 TWh lower than in 2022. Gross electricity generation fell to the level of 1955. Natural gas for electricity generation remained slightly below the previous year's level at 45.8 TWh for public electricity supply and 29.6 for industrial own consumption. Due to the shutdown of the last three nuclear power plants in Emsland, Neckarwestheim and Isar on 15 April 2023, the Nuclear power only contributed 6.72 TWh to electricity generation, which corresponds to a share of 1.5 per cent.
Battery storage systems are developing rapidly
The expansion of fluctuating renewable energies also increases the need for grid expansion and storage capacity. Battery storage systems, which are installed on a decentralised basis to buffer the generation of wind and solar power, are particularly suitable. The private household segment is showing strong growth, as is the case with photovoltaic systems. Overall, installed battery capacity almost doubled from 4.4 GW in 2022 to 7.6 GW in 2023, while storage capacity rose from 6.5 GWh to 11.2 GWh. The capacity of German pumped storage plants is around 6 GW.
Declining exports and exchange electricity prices
After an export surplus of 27.1 TWh was achieved in electricity trading in 2022, an import surplus of 11.7 TWh was recorded in 2023. This was due in particular to the lower electricity generation costs in neighbouring European countries in the summer and the high costs of CO2-certificates. The majority of imports came from Denmark (10.7 TWh), Norway (4.6 TWh) and Sweden (2.9 TWh). Germany exported electricity to Austria (5.8 TWh) and Luxembourg (3.6 TWh).
In winter, electricity exchange prices rose again and CO2-certificates became more favourable. This already led to a balance in November and, in conjunction with high wind power generation, to export surpluses in December. In contrast to its neighbouring countries (Austria, Switzerland, France), Germany also has sufficient power plant capacity in winter to produce electricity for export.
The average volume-weighted day-ahead price Exchange electricity price fell sharply to €92.29/MWh or 9.23 cents/kWh (2022: €230.57/MWh). This puts it back at the 2021 level.
A detailed presentation of the data on electricity generation, imports/exports, prices, installed capacity, emissions and climate data can be found on the Energy Charts Server: www.energy-charts.info/downloads/Stromerzeugung_2023.pdf
This first version of the annual evaluation takes into account all electricity generation data from the Leipzig electricity exchange EEX and the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) up to and including 31 December 2023. The quarter-hourly values from the EEX were energetically corrected using the available monthly data from the Federal Statistical Office on electricity generation up to September 2023. For the remaining months, the correction factors were estimated on the basis of past monthly and annual data. The extrapolated values from October to December are subject to larger tolerances.
This is based on the data for the German Net electricity generation to the public electricity supply. It is the difference between gross electricity generation and the power plants' own consumption and is fed into the public grid. The electricity industry calculates with net figures, e.g. for electricity trading and grid utilisation, and only net electricity generation is traded on the electricity exchanges. It represents the electricity mix that actually comes out of the socket at home.
The project "Energy sufficiency - strategies and instruments for a technical, systemic and cultural transformation to sustainably limit energy demand in the building/housing consumer environment", funded by the BMBF, was successfully completed at the end of 2016. The project investigated how energy-efficient everyday routines, social practices and lifestyle aspects can be harmonised with the requirements of sustainable development and how the structural and political framework conditions must be designed so that energy sufficiency becomes more acceptable and practicable in everyday life. Reduction potentials for household electricity consumption were quantified for the three energy sufficiency approaches of reduction, substitution and adaptation.
The results were presented in the form of sufficiency spectra for selected fields of application. Subsequently, policy approaches to support energy sufficiency in private households were analysed and proposals for an integrated package of policy instruments for energy efficiency and sufficiency were developed. The findings of the project have been incorporated into an internet-based household electricity check, a handbook on sustainable product design for the appliance industry and the development of proposals for national and EU instruments to reduce electricity consumption and promote municipal climate protection.
Project partner:
ifeu Institute for Energy and Environmental Research Heidelberg gGmbH (ifeu)
Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy gGmbH (WI)
Berlin University of the Arts/Design Research Lab (UdK)
Research Centre for Sustainability and Climate Policy (FNK)
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