Berlin The transmission system operator 50Hertz surveyed companies and business developers to determine future electricity and hydrogen requirements in its grid area. The main result: In north-eastern Germany, the demand for electricity will increase by 30 to 40 percent to up to 140 terawatt hours (TWh) by 2030.
To put this in context: the net electricity generation in Germany last year was 490 TWh. The demand for hydrogen is also growing rapidly in the 50Hertz network area, which includes the eastern German states and Hamburg.
There are some centers with particularly strong growth: According to studies, the demand for green electricity in the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan region will almost double by 2030.
The main drivers are the planned and expected new industrial settlements. Around the capital, for example, there are data centers from Microsoft Azure, Amazon and Google as well as the battery production facilities from Tesla and Microvast. The battery factories of CATL and Farasis are added in the wider 50Hertz grid area.
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The already high proportion of electricity from renewable sources in north-eastern Germany is proving to be a competitive advantage. On the way to climate neutrality, companies are increasingly dependent on a high proportion of renewables in the power grid.
In the 50Hertz grid area, 60 percent of electricity consumption is covered by renewable energies. 50Hertz wants to make it possible for the share to increase to 100 percent by 2032. The nationwide average was 42 percent last year.
The hydrogen requirement increases by a factor of 14
The demand for hydrogen in the 50Hertz grid area is concentrated in a few regions, among which the central German chemical triangle in the region of Leipzig, Halle and Bitterfeld stands out. Overall, the hydrogen demand in the 50Hertz grid area will increase by a factor of 14 from the current 0.5 TWh to seven TWh.
50Hertz is breaking new ground with the investigations. The future demand for electricity and hydrogen is extremely important for setting the course for energy policy in the coming years. The corresponding forecasts are crucial for the expansion paths for renewable energies, for the construction of new power lines and for the development of a hydrogen infrastructure. So far, the forecasts have been based primarily on general estimates.
The institutes commissioned by 50Hertz, Frontier Economics, IW Consult, PWC and the Research Center for Energy Economics in Munich, on the other hand, have oriented themselves to needs that are already becoming apparent. Numerous companies and associations from various industrial sectors as well as the responsible state ministries of economics and business development agencies were surveyed.
“This not only makes it clear what a Herculean task we all have in front of us with the goal of climate neutrality. The expansion of renewable energies and the power grid infrastructure must progress faster than before,” said 50Hertz boss Stefan Kapferer.
At the same time, the studies showed that East Germany has very good prerequisites “to write a success story for the conversion to a climate-neutral industrial region”. For this, however, it is necessary to remove existing obstacles to faster approval procedures.
Economics Veronika Grimm, who is a member of the 50Hertz Scientific Advisory Board, said the figures quantified the foreseeable demand for electricity and hydrogen and thus provided important information for the numerous players in the transformation process.
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