Source: Energy & Management Powernews, March 11, 2022
Replacing fossil fuels now with gas from other countries is only justifiable in the short term and in moderation, warns the Renewable Energy Platform Baden-Württemberg.
The share of Russian gas of currently about 55% is to reduce as quickly as possible and climate-friendly alternatives for the sectors of electricity, industry and buildings there are enough, so Jörg Dürr-Pucher, chairman of the industry association Platform Renewable Energies Baden-Württemberg (Platform EE BW) in a message from March 10. Especially in the heat supply for residential buildings and industry, a change is necessary. The share of renewable energies here is only around 16%.
"In the building sector, the alternatives are primarily heat pumps, solar thermal energy and biomass - as climate-friendly energy suppliers for individual heating systems or heating networks. First and foremost, however, we need to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. Here we can quickly save ten percent energy and even more through renovation," the chairman continued. Also for the industry and the current sector there are greenhouse gas-neutral alternatives.
The technical Potenzial of renewable warmth in the Federal Republic for the year 2030 is nearly twice as high as the today's final energy consumption in the heating sector. This makes it highly likely that sufficient renewable heat could be generated in Germany by 2030, making it feasible to phase out the use of all fossil fuels, including natural gas.
In Baden-Württemberg: 22.4% of new buildings with natural gas heating
In Baden-Württemberg alone, natural gas accounts for around 20% of total primary energy consumption, according to figures from the EE BW platform. The final energy consumption of industrial companies in the southwest has been constantly covered with 30% natural gas for about twenty years. More than three quarters of homes in the southwest are heated with heating oil and natural gas. 43 % of them use gas, about one third oil. In completed new buildings, two-thirds of the owners use renewables; in new construction, 22.4% still burn natural gas.
In electricity generation, 7% of which is based on natural gas in Baden-Württemberg, the changeover is easier, according to the platform: photovoltaics and wind energy together are expected to cover around 70% of the gross electricity consumption in Baden-Württemberg, which has increased by then, in 2040. To achieve this, the installed solar capacity would have to be more than quintupled by 2040, from just under 7,000 MW today to around 39,000 MW. In the case of wind energy, the installed capacity would have to be increased by a factor of seven from 1,600 MW today to 11,500 MW by 2040. That is also necessary because in the future large quantities of heat are to be produced with electricity-based heat pumps.
Green hydrogen and biomethane in the industry necessary
In the industry however it needs apart from more green electricity above all energy sources, which make high process temperatures possible, is safe the platform. Green hydrogen offers itself here. A further, already established alternative sees the platform EE BW in the Biomethan.
At the same time the energetic reorganization would have to be advanced, in order to reduce the energy needs of the buildings. After the building has been upgraded for renewables, building owners can choose between several heating technologies: Heat pumps, solar thermal, biogas and wood energy - whether by individual heating or connected to a heating network.
In cities in particular, there is an urgent need for the construction and expansion of heating networks, Dürr-Pucher argues. Existing heating networks, which are often connected to a coal or gas-fired power plant, need to be converted. The advantage of heating networks: Here, many households can be connected at once to deep geothermal plants, central biomass cogeneration plants and industrial waste heat. Large heat pumps are also well suited for heat grids, he says. They make it possible to tap additional heat sources such as bodies of water, sewers and sewage treatment plants.
Pioneer in solar thermal energy
Baden-Württemberg should also continue to focus on solar thermal energy, as the state is a pioneer in this area. Large-scale solar thermal plants on heating networks in the southwest now cover a total area of 49,500 m2, 45% of the collector area installed in Germany. In Ludwigsburg/Kornwestheim stands with approximately 15,000 m2 the country widely up-to-date largest plant.
Besides heat pumps in the living range the federation recommends also further the wood energy. Not in the form of stoves, but as an efficient and low-fine dust pellet stove or log heating. More than 70% of the renewable heat provided in Baden-Württemberg today is accounted for by this.
The Platform Renewable Energies Baden-Württemberg is an umbrella organization of associations, companies and research institutes from the renewable energy sector in Baden-Württemberg.
Author: Heidi Roider