Otto Machhammer
Moderation: Klaus-Peter Jäckel
The energy transition will foreseeably require more renewable energy than can be produced in Germany. We should therefore consider at an early stage where the shortfall could come from and in what form, as well as which energy each consumption sector should then receive. Some consumers necessarily require electricity, e.g. IT, industry or households. Others necessarily require hydrogen in addition to electricity if they are to defossilise, e.g. the iron and steel or chemical industries. In addition, there is the transport sector, which can be powered by electricity, hydrogen or synthetic fuels.
The aim of the lecture is to provide techno-economic answers to the questions posed above. To this end, the efficiency of process chains based on renewable energies must be defined differently from that of process chains based on limited resources. In addition, the low bid values in auctions for large-scale wind and photovoltaic installations do not necessarily have anything to do with the actual levelised costs of electricity.
The question of whether wind turbines or photovoltaic installations are more suitable for Power-to-X will also be examined in greater detail. So too will the locations that are meteorologically favourable for this purpose and which forms of energy are the most cost-effective for transport over long distances. Building on this, an energy distribution scenario for Germany that the author considers sensible will be outlined.
