The war in Ukraine once again confirms the realization that war primarily causes one thing: endless human suffering. With a view to the economy, he also makes it clear that globalization can not only promote efficiency gains, but also dependencies and supply bottlenecks, namely when events – such as a war in the middle of Europe – interrupt supply chains.
With regard to the German energy industry, the war in Ukraine has shown that dependence on Russian natural gas imports could massively jeopardize the security of supply in Germany and that there is therefore a need for immediate action. That means we need alternative sources of gas in the short term, we need to reduce and substitute consumption, and we need to use renewable energies wherever possible.
The search for it is already in full swing.
For far too long it has been the case that energy is always there. It comes from the socket, from the heater and as hot water even from the tap. The fact is: energy is a cornerstone of our economy, it feeds our industry, it drives our traffic, on land, on water, in the air, in space.
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It is a prerequisite for digitization. In short: Energy is essential for our life. We must therefore rethink energy imports with a view to the diversity of sources and the reliability of suppliers and completely realign them with a view to climate change, i.e. optimally solve the trilemma of security of supply, sustainability and affordability against the background of current developments.
Fossil fuels still dominate
More than 80 percent of the energy used in Germany is still of fossil origin and does not come from renewable sources. At the same time, regardless of whether it is coal, oil or natural gas – almost all of the fossil hydrocarbons that we use as energy sources today do not come from Germany.
The conversion of our energy system to climate neutrality undoubtedly presents us with a variety of challenges. On the one hand, we have to replace conventional energy sources in their mere function as energy sources. Here it is important to push ahead massively with the expansion of renewable energies.
At the same time, however, the fluctuating availability of sun and wind also requires intelligent and efficient storage solutions. On the other hand, turning away from conventional energy sources also means – apart from the energy supply – replacing them with alternatives in their function as a basic material in chemical industrial applications.
The storage problem cannot be solved with electricity from renewable sources alone
For around 20 years, the rule in Germany was: The mere expansion of renewable energies and the saving of energy in all areas of life and industry will solve the problem by itself, loosely based on the motto: The Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) will fix it .
However, “all electric” and “efficiency first” have neither made us independent, or rather significantly more independent, from energy imports, nor have they solved the energy storage problem, let alone gained a foothold in chemical processes. In a highly regenerative system, electricity can be transported over long distances, but the time between generation and consumption cannot be decoupled.
The solution was obvious the whole time, it is called: use of green hydrogen. Why? Because you can easily generate it from renewable energies in Europe and Germany and because it can be transported and imported. Hydrogen produced using photovoltaics on the Iberian Peninsula, for example, is much easier to import than electrical energy from the same plant.
Hydrogen can also be stored long-term in Germany – for example in underground salt caverns, which EWE has been using to store natural gas in north-west Germany for over 40 years. And last but not least, almost every hydrocarbon used today can be produced from hydrogen so that it can be used for chemical industrial applications.
Hydrogen can replace fossil fuels
Even though we’ve apparently forgotten what spark or compression ignition actually means in the internal combustion engine, we should simply be aware that the energy we consume today very often already contains hydrogen as a fundamental component.
A look at our vehicle registration document is usually enough: the vast majority of registered cars are still powered by diesel and petrol, or rather with complex and long-chain hydrocarbons produced from petroleum, which, as the name suggests, consist of carbon and hydrogen. However, these can not only be produced from crude oil, but also from green hydrogen and carbon dioxide using established processes, as so-called synthetic fuels. Although with a view to the traffic turnaround, these should certainly be used primarily in shipping and air traffic.
In the passenger car sector, on the other hand, the internal combustion engine should primarily be replaced by battery-electric drives, supplemented by the direct use of hydrogen in electric vehicles using fuel cells. For heavy-duty traffic, on the other hand, hydrogen is without question the energy carrier of the future.
The fact that there is still a great deal of action to be taken when it comes to the traffic turnaround is made clear by the comparison that today there are 45 million cars with combustion engines compared to just one million electric vehicles.
All in all, it can be said that hydrogen can replace fossil fuels, not only with regard to their use for energy production, but also with regard to chemical industrial applications.
Germany will remain an energy importing country
One thing is also clear: If you really want to replace conventional energy sources with renewable energy sources in a sustainable way, you have to be clear about two things. Firstly, renewable energy comes in different forms such as electric power, green hydrogen, basic chemicals, synthetic fuels and synthetic gases, depending on how it is used.
Secondly, turning away from fossil fuels towards an energy system based on renewable energies will not entirely prevent Germany’s current massive dependence on energy imports. Germany will remain an energy importing country.
A renewable energy system must also be thought of as cross-border and at least European, preferably global. Because only by tapping the best sources of renewable energy can you become less dependent on traditional supply chains. The current global political situation makes this transformation not only necessary, but imperative, and not only tomorrow, but today.
Stefan Dohler is CEO of EWE AG.
More: The consequences of an energy boycott for German industry