The most important energy terms briefly explained
future fuels
E fuels
Power to X
bio fuels
electrolysis
hydrogen
Import of Green Hydrogen
x
Germany imports 70 percent of its energy. The energy supply depends on numerous parameters. Processing capacities, transport routes and distribution networks play a role, as does the political situation in the producing countries, supply and demand, especially in the United States and China, and the resulting prices on the world market. In addition, political sanctions against important suppliers like Russia are game changers, no matter how justified and right they may be. And suddenly there is even a real physical shortage of energy. And the energy problems are by no means just disappearing into thin air, they are actually multiplying. This is a headache for almost all industrialized countries. The connections are too complex for simple solutions .
Loechel holds the chair for environmental/resource economics and sustainability at the Ruhr University in Bochum. Before that, he held professorships at the Universities of Münster and Heidelberg. He was also head of research at the ZEW - Leibniz Center for European Economic Research. In 2022 he received the German Business Prize from the Joachim Herz Foundation for outstanding economic research.
(Photo: Robert Hoernig)
In the long run, relief packages worth billions and other government benefits will not be enough to keep our economy running and homes warm. Germany needs more resilience, more resistance to an increasingly rough world order. "The goal is," says Andreas Loechel, Professor of Environmental/Resource Economics and Sustainability at the Ruhr University Bochum, "to ensure the availability of energy in various forms, in sufficient quantities and at reasonable prices". Only in this way can security of supply in power generation and distribution and energy security in the supply of energy resources be maintained under stress."The goal must be to place our energy supply on a broader basis in the future and to increasingly rely on greenhouse gas-neutral energy," says Adrian Willig, General Manager of the en2x Fuels and Energy trade association. " But a short-term complete conversion is simply not possible. There are currently no alternatives for this. That can only be done step by step.”
Gradually, the building blocks must be placed on top of each other. These include new LNG terminals for the delivery of liquid gas, which will then gradually be replaced by hydrogen. This includes the market ramp-up of green hydrogen with the corresponding processing capacities, from which synthetic fuels for transport and CO2-neutral precursors for the chemical industry can be produced. And this includes energy and hydrogen partnerships, from which an international hydrogen economy with the necessary infrastructure and logistics is developing.
A study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology IEE calculated that outside of Europe with wind power and photovoltaic (PV) systems, a total of around 109,000 terawatt hours of CO2-neutral hydrogen or 87,000 terawatt hours of synthetic fuels (power-to- Liquid, PtL for short) per year - more than enough to also drive the German economy. Possible partner countries from which Central Europe could import climate-friendly energy products are the sunny continent Australia, the wind world champions Chile and Argentina, hot and nearby North Africa, the United States, Kazakhstan or oil champion Saudi Arabia, which would like to diversify its energy mix and make it greener. It must not happen again
"The expansion of alternative procurement and target markets is the key to more independence and security - for exports and imports," agrees the Federation of German Industries (BDI). The EU should take market opening with other regions more seriously, new trade agreements are urgently needed. With the urgently needed development of a global market for green hydrogen, lessons should be learned from the gas crisis, says Andreas Loechel. “A resilient hydrogen strategy requires comprehensive diversification that also gives greater weight to political risks. The trade-off is clear: diversification leads to higher import costs and takes time, but can protect against economic risks.”Incidentally, this also applies to raw materials such as nickel, copper or lithium, which are often only procured from a single or a few countries of origin. They are indispensable for the energy transition - for example for the construction of electric car batteries or wind and solar systems, which in turn are used to provide electricity and produce green hydrogen.
Many companies have legitimate concerns about their energy security. The experiences of the past few months have shown that one-sided dependencies, be it on supplier countries for energy or raw materials, but also on components for certain technologies, are very risky and, as a consequence, can also jeopardize the achievement of climate targets. According to a survey initiated by the Handelsblatt Research Institute (HRI), around 36 percent of companies consider the use of easily storable energy sources to be a key pillar for Germany's secure energy supply. This also includes the use of Power-to-X processes, with the help of which green electricity is converted into gas, ammonia or synthetic fuels and can be stored and transported in this form. On the other hand, only nine percent favor battery or direct electric solutions. 30 percent of the companies advocate openness to technology with state targets, compared to only around seven percent for a clear technological definition by the state. Approximately 31 percent of the companies want energy autonomy, although it is almost impossible to achieve, and more than 14 percent consider a large number of supplier countries to be important.
This would benefit the fight against climate change, reduce dependencies and prevent exploding energy prices. It would be equivalent to: sustainable resilience.
