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Im Forschungsprojekt "Landscaping" untersuchte das Wuppertal Institut die für Nordrhein-Westfalen aus heutiger Sicht denkbaren Technologieansätze, die dafür nötigen politischen Rahmenbedingungen sowie mögliche Innovationen entlang der Wertschöpfungsketten. Bestandteil des Berichts sind Steckbriefe, in denen die möglichen Technologien für treibhausgasneutrale Industrieprozesse samt offener Forschungsfragen und Infrastrukturbedarfe dargestellt sind. Das Projekt entstand im Auftrag des Ministeriums für Wirtschaft, Innovation, Digitalisierung und Energie des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen.
Innerhalb des Projekts TFE-NRW bewertete das Wuppertal Institut den Forschungsbedarf für Energiewende-Technologien in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Ziel war es herauszufinden, welche Technologien und Forschungsbereiche im Rahmen der Energieforschung für Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) einen besonders hohen Stellenwert in Relation zur Bewertung für Deutschland haben könnten und für die eine besondere Unterstützung innerhalb der Energieforschung gerechtfertigt erscheint. Dabei sollten die speziellen Anforderungen des Bundeslandes berücksichtigt werden.
Betrachtet wurden 31 Technologiefelder aus den Bereichen erneuerbare Energien, konventionelle Kraftwerke, Infrastruktur, Technologien für die Sektorenkopplung (Power-to-X, P2X), energie- und ressourceneffiziente Gebäude, Energie- und Ressourceneffizienz in der Industrie und integrative Aspekte, die mithilfe eines Kriterienrasters qualitativ bewertet wurden.
The transformation processes towards a sustainable development are complex. How can science contribute towards new solutions and ideas leading to change in practice? The authors of this book discuss these questions along the energy transition in the building sector.
A transformative research that leaves the neutral observer position needs appropriate concepts and methods: how can knowledge from different disciplines and from practice be integrated in order to be able to explain and understand complex circumstances and interrelations? What role do complex (agent-based) models and experiments play in this respect? Which mix of methods is required in transformative science in order to actively support the actors in transformation processes?
Theses questions are illustrated by the example of the BMBF funded project "EnerTransRuhr".
Die Transformationsprozesse hin zu einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung sind komplex.
Wie kann Wissenschaft dazu beitragen, dass neue Lösungen und Ideen in der Praxis zu Veränderung führen? Dieser Frage gehen die Autorinnen und Autoren am Beispiel der Gebäudeenergiewende nach. Eine transformative Forschung, die den neutralen Beobachterposten verlässt, braucht entsprechende Konzepte und Methoden: Wie kann Wissen aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen und aus der Praxis integriert werden, um komplexe Sachverhalte und Zusammenhänge zu erklären und zu verstehen? Welche Rolle spielen komplexe (agentenbasierte) Modelle und Experimente dabei? Wie sieht der Methodenmix einer transformativen Wissenschaft aus, die Akteure bei Transformationsprozessen aktiv unterstützt? Illustriert werden diese Fragen am Beispiel des vom BMBF geförderten Forschungsprojektes "EnerTransRuhr".
Direct Air Capture (DAC) is increasingly being discussed as a possibility to limit climate change. In this study, a possible rollout of the DAC technology at German coastal areas is analysed based on an existing climate neutrality scenario. For the year 2045 the resulting costs as well as land, water and energy consumption are examined. It is concluded that a realization of the DAC technology in Germany might be possible from a technical point of view. However, there is a high demand for land and energy. Since a rollout is needed to start in 20 years at the latest, the required discussion and evaluation should be initiated as quickly as possible.
Um den Klimawandel begrenzen zu können, wird zunehmend der Einsatz von Direct Air Capture (DAC) zur Erzeugung von Negativemissionen diskutiert. Anhand von Kosten sowie dem Flächen-, Wasser- und Energieverbrauch werden in diesem Artikel mögliche Implementierungspfade der DAC-Technologie, aufbauend auf einem bestehenden Klimaneutralitätsszenario für Deutschland, analysiert. Während die technische Realisierung machbar sein sollte, stellt der hohe Flächen- und Energiebedarf eine kritische Größe dar.
Direct air capture (DAC) combined with subsequent storage (DACCS) is discussed as one promising carbon dioxide removal option. The aim of this paper is to analyse and comparatively classify the resource consumption (land use, renewable energy and water) and costs of possible DAC implementation pathways for Germany. The paths are based on a selected, existing climate neutrality scenario that requires the removal of 20 Mt of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year by DACCS from 2045. The analysis focuses on the so-called "low-temperature" DAC process, which might be more advantageous for Germany than the "high-temperature" one. In four case studies, we examine potential sites in northern, central and southern Germany, thereby using the most suitable renewable energies for electricity and heat generation. We show that the deployment of DAC results in large-scale land use and high energy needs. The land use in the range of 167-353 km2 results mainly from the area required for renewable energy generation. The total electrical energy demand of 14.4 TWh per year, of which 46% is needed to operate heat pumps to supply the heat demand of the DAC process, corresponds to around 1.4% of Germany's envisaged electricity demand in 2045. 20 Mt of water are provided yearly, corresponding to 40% of the city of Cologne's water demand (1.1 million inhabitants). The capture of CO2 (DAC) incurs levelised costs of 125-138 EUR per tonne of CO2, whereby the provision of the required energy via photovoltaics in southern Germany represents the lowest value of the four case studies. This does not include the costs associated with balancing its volatility. Taking into account transporting the CO2 via pipeline to the port of Wilhelmshaven, followed by transporting and sequestering the CO2 in geological storage sites in the Norwegian North Sea (DACCS), the levelised costs increase to 161-176 EUR/tCO2. Due to the longer transport distances from southern and central Germany, a northern German site using wind turbines would be the most favourable.
Green hydrogen and synthetic fuels are increasingly recognized as a key strategic element for the progress of the global energy transition. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with its large wind and solar potential, is well positioned to generate renewable energy at low cost for the production of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels, and is therefore considered as a potential future producer and exporter. Yet, while solar and wind energy potentials are essential, other factors are expected to play an equally important role for the development of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels (export) sectors. This includes, in particular, adequate industrial capacities and infrastructures. These preconditions vary from country to country, and while they have been often mentioned in the discussion on green hydrogen exports, they have only been examined to a limited extent. This paper employs a case study approach to assess the existing infrastructural and industrial conditions in Jordan, Morocco, and Oman for the development of a green hydrogen and downstream synthetic fuel (export) sector.
Roadmaps for India's energy future foresee that coal power will continue to play a considerable role until the middle of the 21st century. Among other options, carbon capture and storage (CCS) is being considered as a potential technology for decarbonising the power sector. Consequently, it is important to quantify the relative benefits and trade-offs of coal-CCS in comparison to its competing renewable power sources from multiple sustainability perspectives. In this paper, we assess coal-CCS pathways in India up to 2050 and compare coal-CCS with conventional coal, solar PV and wind power sources through an integrated assessment approach coupled with a nexus perspective (energy-cost-climate-water nexus). Our levelized costs assessment reveals that coal-CCS is expensive and significant cost reductions would be needed for CCS to compete in the Indian power market. In addition, although carbon pricing could make coal-CCS competitive in relation to conventional coal power plants, it cannot influence the lack of competitiveness of coal-CCS with respect to renewables. From a climate perspective, CCS can significantly reduce the life cycle GHG emissions of conventional coal power plants, but renewables are better positioned than coal-CCS if the goal is ambitious climate change mitigation. Our water footprint assessment reveals that coal-CCS consumes an enormous volume of water resources in comparison to conventional coal and, in particular, to renewables. To conclude, our findings highlight that coal-CCS not only suffers from typical new technology development related challenges - such as a lack of technical potential assessments and necessary support infrastructure, and high costs - but also from severe resource constraints (especially water) in an era of global warming and the competition from outperforming renewable power sources. Our study, therefore, adds a considerable level of techno-economic and environmental nexus specificity to the current debate about coal-based large-scale CCS and the low carbon energy transition in emerging and developing economies in the Global South.
There is an increasing pressure that enhanced and novel energy technologies are swiftly adopted by the market to ensure meeting the energy and climate targets. An important issue with such novel developments is their risk to be stuck in the "valley of death", i.e. that their transition to the market is delayed or unsuccessful. Publicly supported demonstration projects could help to bridge the valley of death by reducing barriers to the adoption caused by missing information and perceived risks. A challenge for technology demonstrations in the industrial context is their often high investments that are required to prove their real-world benefits. Given the magnitude of such investments, it becomes crucial that public funding focuses on the most promising demonstration proposals. Structured evaluation processes can help to facilitate the identification of promising proposals and to improve the quality and transparency of decisions. This paper deals with a corresponding multi-staged multi-criteria decision support system (DSS) suggested to the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. It deals with the evaluation of demonstration proposals across three stages: The first stage represents a filtering stage to identify those proposals relevant for further considerations. The second stage comprises a multi-criteria scoring method drawing on an evaluation against nineteen criteria. The final third stage serves to critically review the need for public funding of well-scored proposals. This contribution outlines the development of the DSS and its design and thus provides insights on proposal evaluating in energy research.
New energy technologies may fail to make the transition to the market once research funding has ended due to a lack of private engagement to conclude their development. Extending public funding to cover such experimental developments could be one way to improve this transition. However, identifying promising research and development (R&D) proposals for this purpose is a difficult task for the following reasons: Close-to-market implementations regularly require substantial resources while public budgets are limited; the allocation of public funds needs to be fair, open, and documented; the evaluation is complex and subject to public sector regulations for public engagement in R&D funding. This calls for a rigorous evaluation process. This paper proposes an operational three-staged decision support system (DSS) to assist decision-makers in public funding institutions in the ex-ante evaluation of R&D proposals for large-scale close-to-market projects in energy research. The system was developed based on a review of literature and related approaches from practice combined with a series of workshops with practitioners from German public funding institutions. The results confirm that the decision-making process is a complex one that is not limited to simply scoring R&D proposals. Decision-makers also have to deal with various additional issues such as determining the state of technological development, verifying market failures or considering existing funding portfolios. The DSS that is suggested in this paper is unique in the sense that it goes beyond mere multi-criteria aggregation procedures and addresses these issues as well to help guide decision-makers in public institutions through the evaluation process.
The German Energiewende is a deliberate transformation of an established industrial economy towards a nearly CO2-free energy system accompanied by a phase out of nuclear energy. Its governance requires knowledge on how to steer the transition from the existing status quo to the target situation (transformation knowledge). The energy system is, however, a complex socio-technical system whose dynamics are influenced by behavioural and institutional aspects, which are badly represented by the dominant techno-economic scenario studies. In this paper, we therefore investigate and identify characteristics of model studies that make agent-based modelling supportive for the generation of transformation knowledge for the Energiewende. This is done by reflecting on the experiences gained from four different applications of agent-based models. In particular, we analyse whether the studies have improved our understanding of policies' impacts on the energy system, whether the knowledge derived is useful for practitioners, how valid understanding derived by the studies is, and whether the insights can be used beyond the initial case-studies. We conclude that agent-based modelling has a high potential to generate transformation knowledge, but that the design of projects in which the models are developed and used is of major importance to reap this potential. Well-informed and goal-oriented stakeholder involvement and a strong collaboration between data collection and model development are crucial.
CCS is discussed in a broad sense throughout Europe. In this paper a cautious, conservative estimate of CO2 storage capacity for Germany and its neighbouring countries where CO2 emissions from Germany could possibly be stored (Netherlands, France, Denmark, Norway, UK and Poland) is presented. Such a lower limit calculation is necessary for orientation purposes for potential investors and political decision-makers.
Conservative CO2 sequestration capacity in deep saline aquifers for Germany is derived by the volumetric approach where parameters such as efficiency factor, CO2 density, porosity of the geological formation are of interest. It is assumed that every geological system is closed and thus an efficiency factor of 0.1 per cent (based on maximum pressure increase and total compressibility) for saline aquifers is applied. The capacity of German depleted oil and gas fields is based on cumulative recovery data and a sweep efficiency of 75 per cent. The storage capacity in the other considered countries, adjacent to Germany, are based on a critical review and adjustment of the results of the European reports JOULE II, GESTCO and GeoCapacity.
The conservative capacities for all countries together amount to 49 Gt CO2, from which Norway and the UK provide 36 Gt, all offshore in the North Sea. Compared to the emissions from large point sources in these countries during 40 years (47.6 Gt of CO2), a virtual balance is achieved. This can only be reached, if a large scale CO2 pipeline system is installed to connect these countries, especially Germany, to the large sinks in the North Sea. If additional restrictions like source-sink matching, acceptance issues and injection rates constraints are taken into account, the available storage space gets increasingly scarce.
Facing the uncertainty of CO2 storage capacity in China by developing different storage scenarios
(2016)
China is very active in the research and development of CO2 capture and storage technologies (CCS). However, existing estimates for CO2 storage capacity are very uncertain. This uncertainty is due to limited geological knowledge, a lack of large-scale research on CO2 injection, and different assessment approaches and parameter settings. Hence storage scenarios represent a method that can be used by policy makers to demonstrate the range of possible storage capacity developments, to help interpret uncertain results and to identify the limitations of existing assessments. In this paper, three storage scenarios are developed for China by evaluating China-wide studies supplemented with more detailed site- and basin-specific assessments. It is estimated that the greatest storage potential can be found in deep saline aquifers. Oil and gas fields may also be used. Coal seams are only included in the highest storage scenario. In total, the scenarios presented demonstrate that China has an effective storage capacity of between 65 and 1551 Gt of CO2. Furthermore, the authors emphasise a need for action to harmonise storage capacity assessment approaches due to the uncertainties involved in the capacity assessments analysed in this study.
Zur Realisierung der europäischen Klimaschutzziele muss der Industriesektor, besonders die energieintensive Grundstoffindustrie, seine Treibhausgasemissionen stark reduzieren. Obwohl in der Vergangenheit bereits große Fortschritte erzielt wurden, sind in Zukunft weitere, teils bahnbrechende Innovationen und der Aufbau der dafür benötigten Infrastruktur erforderlich. Im Rahmen dieses Projekts stellt das Wuppertal Institut für die "European Climate Foundation" den aktuellen Wissensstand zum Thema zusammen, diskutiert diesen vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Situation für Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW), erstellt konsistente mögliche Zukunftsszenarien für NRW und leitet Schlüsselfragen und weiteren Forschungsbedarf für die Region ab.
This report was prepared by the Wuppertal Institute in cooperation with the German Economic Institute as part of the SCI4climate.NRW project. The report aims to shed light on the possible phenomenon that the availability and costs of "green" energy sources may become a relevant location factor for basic materials produced in a climate-neutral manner in the future.
For this purpose, we introduce the term "Renewables Pull". We define Renewables Pull as the initially hypothetical phenomenon of a shift of industrial production from one region to another as a result of different marginal costs of renewable energies (or of secondary energy sources or feedstocks based on renewable energies).
Shifts in industrial production in the sense of Renewables Pull can in principle be caused by differences in the stringency of climate policies in different countries, as in the case of Carbon Leakage. Unlike Carbon Leakage, however, Renewables Pull can also occur if similarly ambitious climate policies are implemented in different countries. This is because Renewables Pull is primarily determined by differences in the costs and availability of renewable energies. In addition, Renewables Pull can also be triggered by cost reductions of renewable energies and by changing preferences on the demand side towards climate-friendly products. Another important difference to Carbon Leakage is that the Renewables Pull effect does not necessarily counteract climate policy.
Similar to Carbon Leakage, it is to be expected that Renewables Pull could become relevant primarily for very energy-intensive products in basic materials industries. In these sectors (e.g. in the steel or chemical industry), there is also the possibility that relocations of specific energy-intensive parts of the production process could trigger domino effects. As a result, large parts of the value chains previously existing in a country or region could also be subjected to an (indirect) Renewables Pull effect.
For the federal state of NRW, in which the basic materials industry plays an important role, the possible emergence of Renewables Pull is associated with significant challenges as climate policy in Germany, the EU and also worldwide is expected to become more ambitious in the future.
This report aims to enable and initiate a deeper analysis of the potential future developments and challenges associated with the Renewables Pull effect. Thus, in the final chapter of the report, several research questions are formulated that can be answered in the further course of the SCI4climate.NRW project as well as in other research projects.
Damit sich die weltweit zunehmend ambitionierten Klimaschutzziele erreichen lassen, müssen auch im Industriesektor weitgehende Emissionsreduktionen innerhalb weniger Jahrzehnte realisiert werden. Expertinnen und Experten sind sich einig, dass dies nicht ohne den Umstieg von fossilen auf erneuerbare Energieträger und Rohmaterialien - sogenannte Feedstocks - umsetzbar ist. Im Zuge der verstärkten Nutzung dieser grünen Energieträger ist denkbar, dass sich deren Verfügbarkeit und Kosten zu immer wichtigeren Standortfaktoren für die Produktion industrieller Güter entwickeln werden. Dies könnte dazu führen, dass zukünftig Standorte mit kostengünstiger Verfügbarkeit von erneuerbaren Energien attraktiver gegenüber anderen Standorten werden und es dann zu Standortverlagerungen kommt - insbesondere im Bereich der energieintensiven Industrie.
In dem vorliegenden Artikel greifen die Autoren diese möglichen Verlagerungen industrieller Produktion auf. In diesem Zusammenhang führen sie auch den Begriff "Renewables Pull" ein. Die in bestimmten Regionen der Welt kostengünstig und in großen Mengen verfügbaren erneuerbaren Energien könnten nach Ansicht der Autoren künftig eine Sogwirkung auslösen und bestimmte Teile der industriellen Produktion anziehen - auch Pull-Effekt genannt.
The CO2 utilisation is discussed as one of the future low-carbon technologies in order to accomplish a full decarbonisation in the energy intensive industry. CO2 is separated from the flue gas stream of power plants or industrial plants and is prepared for further processing as raw material. CO2 containing gas streams from industrial processes exhibit a higher concentration of CO2 than flue gases from power plants; consequentially, industrial CO2 sources are used as raw material for the chemical industry and for the synthesis of fuel on the output side. Additionally, fossil resources can be replaced by substitutes of reused CO2 on the input side. If set up in a right way, this step into a CO2-based circular flow economy could make a contribution to the decarbonisation of the industrial sector and according to the adjusted potential, even rudimentarily to the energy sector.
In this study, the authors analyse potential CO2 sources, the potential demand and the range of applications of CO2. In the last chapter of the final report, they give recommendations for research, development, politics and economics for an appropriate future designing of CO2 utilisation options based upon their previous analysis.
Eine oft kontrovers diskutierte Frage ist, ob eine massive Dämmung von Häusern in der Gesamtbilanz nicht mehr Ressourcenverbrauch und Emissionen verursacht, als sie im Endeffekt einspart. Zur Untersuchung dieser Frage wurde nun erstmals eine trade-off Analyse durchgeführt. Hierzu wurde ein bottom-up Wirkungsanalyse-Modell entwickelt, dessen Kern ein Emissions- und Energiemodell für den Haushaltssektor bildet, gekoppelt mit einem Ökobilanzierungs-Tool. Den Rahmen für beide Modelle bilden Energieszenarien bis 2050, die für jede Dekade Sanierungsraten und Energiemixe vorgeben. Damit können "reine" Energieszenarien um ressourcenpolitische Analysen erweitert und die Auswirkungen verschiedener Dämmstrategien ermittelt werden.
Das zentrale Ergebnis der Modellierung ist, dass zusätzliche Aufwendungen für Dämmstoffe (untersucht wurden extrudierter Polystyrolhartschaum XPS und Zellulose) sowohl ressourcen- als auch emissionsseitig in fast allen Umweltwirkungskategorien durch erhebliche Einsparungen bei der Gebäudebeheizung überkompensiert werden. Im Wesentlichen sind keine Trade-offs erkennbar und der prozentuale Beitrag der Dämmstoffe an den Umweltwirkungsindikatoren ist gering. Relevant ist dagegen die Wahl des Treibmittels bei den aufgeschäumten XPS-Dämmstoffen: Gegenüber dem in Deutschland verwendeten XPS, das weitgehend mit CO2 aufgeschäumt wird, führt ein Dämmstoff, der hohe Anteile an Fluorkohlenwasserstoffen aufweist, zu einem hohen Trade-off bezüglich der Wirkungskategorie "stratosphärischer Ozonabbau" und zu einer erkennbaren, jedoch nicht so deutlichen Wirkung auf das Treibhaus-Potenzial. Eine Sensitivitätsanalyse mit dem alternativen Dämmmaterial Zellulose zeigt, dass sich die an sich schon geringen Anteile der Dämmstoffe an den Umweltwirkungsindikatoren weiter verringern. Hinsichtlich der Materialintensität sind XPS- und Zellulose-Dämmung jedoch mit vergleichbaren Auswirkungen verbunden.
Zusammenfassend lässt sich festhalten, dass für beide Materialien ambitionierte Dämmstoffstrategien im Hinblick auf alle in dieser Studie analysierten Faktoren einen wesentlichen Beitrag sowohl zu Materialeffizienz- als auch zu Emissionsminderungszielen leisten können.
Der Ergebnisbericht dokumentiert in Kapitel 2 die in diesem Forschungsvorhaben durchgeführten Arbeiten an dem von der TU Delft entwickelten agentenbasierten Strommarktmodell EMLab-Generation, das als Open-Source Modell konzipiert ist. Einen zentralen Aspekt bildet die Übertragung des Modells, das ursprünglich die beiden Regionen CWE (Central-Western- Europe) und UK umfasste, auf ein Modell mit den beiden Regionen Deutschland und Europa (ohne Deutschland), im Wesentlichen in den Grenzen der EU28. Diese Übertragung ist die Grundlage für die Untersuchung unterschiedlicher Fragestellungen hinsichtlich der zukünftigen Entwicklung des Strommarkts in Deutschland innerhalb des europäischen Verbundnetzes bei hohen Anteilen fluktuierender erneuerbarer Energien an der Stromerzeugung.
Nach der Darstellung der konkreten Zielsetzung und der Grundlagen des vorhandenen Modells werden im Hauptteil (Kapitel 2.3) die eigenen Modellierungsarbeiten (Datenaufbereitung, Modellierung und "lessons learned") beschrieben. Im Anschluss erfolgt eine kurze Darstellung einer noch in Erarbeitung befindlichen Masterarbeit zur Berücksichtigung von Risikoaspekten innerhalb des Investitionsalgorithmus' von EMLab-Generation, die sich aus dem internationalen ABM-Workshop als offene methodische Fragestellung von Strommarktmodellen ergeben hat (Kapitel 2.4). Kapitel 2.5 gibt eine kritische Einschätzung der erreichten Modellierungsergebnisse sowie weitere mögliche Anwendungen der neu konzipierten Modellregionen.
Kapitel 3 gibt anschließend einen Überblick über die in diesem Vorhaben durchgeführten gemeinsamen Workshops zwischen TU Delft und Wuppertal Institut sowie den internationalen Workshop, an dem fünf Forschungseinrichtungen aus Deutschland sowie die TU Delft erstmals ihre Erfahrungen mit ABM-Strommarktmodellierung austauschten und methodischen Forschungsbedarf aufarbeiteten.
Der Bericht schließt mit einer kurzen Zusammenfassung sowie einem Ausblick auf weitere Forschungsarbeiten, mit denen die im Rahmen dieser Anbahnungsmaßnahme begonnene Kooperation zwischen Wuppertal Institut und TU Delft fortgesetzt werden soll.
Eine zukünftige Herausforderung der Energiewende wird darin bestehen, zunehmende Stromnetzeinspeisungen von fluktuierenden erneuerbaren Energien (FEE) in das Energiesystem zu integrieren. Neben den Flexibilitäten im Stromsystem sollten dabei auch die Möglichkeiten des Wärmemarktes zur Stabilisierung des Strommarktes berücksichtigt werden. So können Kraft-Wärme-Kopplungs-Anlagen (KWK), Elektroheizer und Wärmepumpen als Verbindungstechnologien zwischen Strom- und Wärmemarkt abhängig vom FEE-Dargebot und damit auch den Preissignalen des Strommarktes zu- bzw. abgeschaltet werden. Dazu werden Wärmespeicher benötigt, da die Flexibilisierung nur möglich ist, wenn die Produktion von der Wärmenutzung entkoppelt werden kann. Eine besonders aussichtsreiche Kopplung von Strom- und Wärmemarkt ist im Bereich der Fernwärmesysteme möglich, da sich hier große Energiemengen in Fernwärmespeichern im Vergleich zu dezentralen Lösungen kostengünstiger und effizienter speichern lassen.
This study conducted by Wuppertal Institute and Germanwatch explores how the social pillar of sustainability at the local level could be met in Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) projects. For this purpose, the authors evaluate the livelihood dimension of CSP technology based on a case study conducted on the 160 MW pilot CSP plant Nooro I in Ouarzazate, Morocco.
One of the main objectives of impact assessments is to identify potentially significant impacts. However, determining this significance has received very limited attention as a procedural step in social impact assessments. Consequently, only limited research and documentation exists on approaches, survey tools and evaluation methods, especially with regard to participatory approaches and combined participatory-technical approaches. This study aims to address this research gap by developing and applying a joined participatory and technical impact significance evaluation. The approach is applied in a case study which analysed the livelihood impacts of the large-scale concentrated solar power plant NOORO I in Ouarzazate, Morocco.
The analysis shows that although different approaches and significance criteria must be applied when involving both local stakeholders and experts, the linked analysis offers more robust results and an improved basis for decision-making. Furthermore, it was observed in the case study that impacts affecting the social, cultural and political spheres were more often considered significant than impacts affecting the physical and material livelihood dimensions. Regarding sustainability assessments of large-scale renewable energy plants, these findings underline the importance (as for other large-scale infrastructure developments) of placing greater emphasis on the inclusion of social aspects in impact assessments.
Many countries are increasingly investing in renewable energy technologies to meet growing energy demands and increase the security of their energy supply. This development is also evident in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, where renewable energy targets and policies have evolved rapidly in recent years. There is a steady increase in both the number of planned and implemented solar photovoltaic (PV) but also of solar thermal projects in form of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. Many of these installations are designed as large utility-scale systems. Despite the fact that these types of large-scale projects can have significant effects on local communities and their livelihoods, the existing research into the social impacts of such large-scale renewable energy infrastructures at local level is limited. However, assessing and managing these impacts is becoming increasingly important to reduce risks to both the affected communities and to the project and businesses activities. In order to provide more robust evidence on the local effects, this research study reviews the social impacts of large-scale renewable energy infrastructure in the MENA region based on a case study of the NOORo I CSP plant in Ouarzazate, Morocco. Data collected during two empirical field studies, in combination with expert interviews and secondary data analysis, provides detailed evidence on the type and significance of livelihood impacts of the NOORo I CSP plant. The analysis results in a consolidated list of 30 impacts and their significance levels for different stakeholder groups including farmers, young people, women, community representatives and owners of small and medium enterprises. The results show that, overall, the infrastructure development was received positively. The review also indicates that factors identified as having effects on the sustainability of local livelihoods are mainly related to information management and benefit distribution, rather than physical or material aspects.
Electricity generation requires water. With the global demand for electricity expected to increase significantly in the coming decades, the water demand in the power sector is also expected to rise. However, due to the ongoing global energy transition, the future structure of the power supply - and hence future water demand for power generation - is subject to high levels of uncertainty, because the volume of water required for electricity generation varies significantly depending on both the generation technology and the cooling system. This study shows the implications of ambitious decarbonization strategies for the direct water demand for electricity generation. To this end, water demand scenarios for the electricity sector are developed based on selected global energy scenario studies to systematically analyze the impact up to 2040. The results show that different decarbonization strategies for the electricity sector can lead to a huge variation in water needs. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) does not necessarily lead to a reduction in water demand. These findings emphasize the need to take into account not only GHG emission reductions, but also such aspects as water requirements of future energy systems, both at the regional and global levels, in order to achieve a sustainable energy transition.
The energy sector today accounts for about 10% to 15% of global freshwater withdrawal. Most water in the energy sector is used for generating electricity, especially for cooling processes in thermal power plants. At the same time the demand for electricity is expected to increase significantly due to population growth and economic development in emerging and developing economies. Growing demand is also driven by electrification strategies pursued by industrialized countries to decarbonize their economies. With the global demand for electricity expected to increase significantly in the coming decades also the water demand in the power sector is expected to rise. However, due to the on-going global energy transition, the future structure of the power supply - and hence future water demand for power generation - is subject to high levels of uncertainty because the volume of water required for electricity generation varies significantly depending on both the generation technology and cooling system. In light of these challenges the objective of this analysis is to provide more systematic and robust answers in terms of the impacts of different decarbonization strategies in the electricity sector on water demand at global and regional level. The focus is on operational water use for electricity generation.
Especially in the arid areas of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), water availability plays an important role in the expansion planning of industrial-scale solar power plants. Although power plants may account for only a very small portion of local water demand, competition for water with other sectors is expected to increase when water resources are insufficient for meeting local needs. This can lead to conflicts between different users (such as communities, farmers, tourism, businesses and utilities). Despite the increasing attention on the water-energy nexus, comprehensive studies analysing the interdependencies and potential conflicts between energy and water at the local level are absent.
To examine the linkages between water resources and energy technologies at the local level, this case study was selected because Morocco is one of the countries most affected by water scarcity and, at the same time, it is also one of the most promising countries in North Africa for the development of renewable energies and offers excellent conditions for solar and wind power plants. Nevertheless, the country's electricity system is still largely based on conventional energy sources, and the country is more than 95% dependent on energy imports. To strengthen the country's energy security and reduce the financial burden associated with energy imports, Morocco is pursuing an ambitious renewable energy expansion strategy: by 2020, around 42% of the national electricity demand should be met by renewable energies. In view of Morocco's ambitious plans, it is particularly important to identify the potential conflicts and synergies resulting from the expansion of renewable energies in relation to the water sector.
Water availability plays an important role in the expansion planning of utility-scale solar power plants, especially in the arid regions of the Middle East and North Africa. Although these power plants usually account for only a small fraction of local water demand, competition for water resources between communities, farmers, companies, and power suppliers is already emerging and is likely to intensify in future. Despite this, to date there has been a lack of comprehensive studies analyzing interdependencies and potential conflicts between energy and water at local level. This study addresses this research gap and examines the linkages between water resources and energy technologies at local level based on a case study conducted in Ouarzazate, Morocco, where one of the largest solar power complexes in the world was recently completed. To better understand the challenges faced by the region in light of increased water demand and diminishing water supply, a mixed-method research design was applied to integrate the knowledge of local stakeholders through a series of workshops. In a first step, regional socio-economic water demand scenarios were developed and, in a second step, water saving measures to avoid critical development pathways were systematically evaluated using a participatory multi-criteria evaluation approach. The results are a set of water demand scenarios for the region and a preferential ranking of water saving measures that could be drawn upon to support decision-making relating to energy and water development in the region.
Several energy scenario studies consider concentrated solar power (CSP) plants as an important technology option to reduce the world's CO2 emissions to a level required for not letting the global average temperature exceed a threshold of 2–2.4 °C. A global ramp up of CSP technologies offers great economic opportunities for technology providers as CSP technologies include highly specialised components. This paper analyses possible value creation effects resulting from a global deployment of CSP until 2050 as projected in scenarios of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and Greenpeace International. The analysis focuses on the economic opportunities of German technology providers since companies such as Schott Solar, Flabeg or Solar Millennium are among the leading suppliers of CSP technologies on the global market.
Um das vom Weltklimarat (IPCC) geforderte 2°C-Ziel einhalten zu können, ist eine Reduktion der globalen CO2-Emissionen um 80% bis 2050 gegenüber dem Stand von 1990 zwingend notwendig. Hierbei wird auch solarthermischen Kraftwerken eine immer größere Bedeutung beigemessen. Im BLUE Map-Szenario der Internationalen Energieagentur (IEA), das von einer CO2-Reduktion um 50% bis 2050 gegenüber 2005 ausgeht, müssen im Jahr 2050 ca. 11% (4.754 TWh) des weltweiten Strombedarfs durch Sonnenenergie gedeckt werden (IEA 2008). Neben Photovoltaik sollen solarthermische Kraftwerke (Concentrated Solar Power, CSP) etwa 46% (ca. 2.200 TWh) der prognostizierten Menge an Solarstrom erzeugen. Im Energy[R]evolution Szenario von Greenpeace International und EREC (European Renewable Energy Council) aus dem Jahr 2008 werden rund 6.000 TWh an CSP-Strom im Jahr 2050 angenommen (bei einer installierten Leistung von 801 GW), während andere Studien bis zu 1.000 GW installierter Leistung in 2050 betrachten (Viebahn et al. 2010). Die DESERTEC-Initiative gibt ein Ziel von 5.000 GW installierter Leistung im Jahr 2050 vor.
Der Export von CSP-Technologien in die "Sunbelt"-Regionen bietet große Chancen für deutsche Anlagenbauer. So sind u.a. Schott Solar, die Ferrostaal Group mit ihrem Geschäftssegment "Solar Energy", Flagsol, die Solar Power Group, Solar Millenium und Fichtner Solar auf dem Gebiet CSP aktiv. Schott Solar (Receiver) und Flabeg (Spiegel) haben eine weltweit führende Markstellung inne. Große deutsche Energieversorger und Anlagenbauer wie E.On, RWE und Siemens gehören zum Industriekonsortium der Desertec Industrial Initiative, die den Ausbau von CSP in der MENA-Region vorantreiben will. Die Initiative wurde von der Münchener Rück angestoßen.
In diesem Artikel wird dargestellt, welche Aktivitäten deutsche Unternehmen entlang der Wertschöpfungskette bislang aufweisen und wie ihre Marktstellung im Vergleich zu führenden internationalen Unternehmen zu bewerten ist. Anschließend wird auf Basis von vorliegenden Energieszenarien ermittelt, welche messbaren ökonomischen Effekte für deutsche Unternehmen, z.B. zusätzliche Wertschöpfung und die Schaffung neuer Arbeitsplätze, aus den genannen Potentialen resultieren. Die Ergebnisse basieren auf einer Studie des Wuppertal Instituts, die im Auftrag von Greenpeace Deutschland und der DESERTEC Foundation erstellt wurde.
Il Wuppertal Institute ha condotto uno studio per valutare quali materiali sono da considerare critici in relazione al previsto incremento di energie rinnovabili in Germania. I problemi relativi a materiali come terre rare e vanadio riguardano la dipendenza da pochi paesi fornitori e gli usi competitivi.
Für die Umsetzung der Energiewende und speziell den Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien sind nicht nur energiewirtschaftliche oder Klimaschutz-Kriterien maßgeblich. Zu einer umfassenden Nachhaltigkeitsbewertung gehört unter anderem auch die Ressourcenbewertung. Hier ist unstrittig, dass die Gesamt-Ressourceninanspruchnahme eines Energiesystems generell erheblich niedriger ist, wenn dieses nicht auf fossilen, sondern auf erneuerbaren Energien basiert (und dabei nicht hauptsächlich auf Biomasse ausgerichtet ist). Bisher wurde jedoch insbesondere der Verbrauch und die langfristige Verfügbarkeit der mineralischen Rohstoffe, die in der Regel zur Herstellung von Energiewandlern und Infrastruktur benötigt werden, wenig untersucht.
Im Rahmen des Projekts KRESSE wurde daher erstmals analysiert, welche "kritischen" mineralischen Rohstoffe für die Herstellung von Technologien, die Strom, Wärme und Kraftstoffe aus erneuerbaren Energien erzeugen, bei einer zeitlichen Perspektive bis zum Jahr 2050 in Deutschland relevant sind. Die Einschätzung als "kritisch" umfasst dabei die langfristige Verfügbarkeit der identifizierten Rohstoffe, die Versorgungssituation, die Recyclingfähigkeit und die Umweltbedingungen der Förderung. Die Studie macht deutlich, dass die geologische Verfügbarkeit mineralischer Rohstoffe für den geplanten Ausbau der erneuerbaren Energien in Deutschland grundsätzlich keine limitierende Größe darstellt. Dabei kann jedoch möglicherweise nicht jede Technologievariante unbeschränkt zum Einsatz kommen.
For many years, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been discussed as a technology that may make a significant contribution to achieving major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. At present, however, only two large-scale power plants capture a total of 2.4 Mt CO2/a. Several reasons are identified for this mismatch between expectations and realised deployment. Applying bibliographic coupling, the research front of CCS, understood to be published peer-reviewed papers, is explored to scrutinise whether the current research is sufficient to meet these problems. The analysis reveals that research is dominated by technical research (69%). Only 31% of papers address non-technical issues, particularly exploring public perception, policy, and regulation, providing a broader view on CCS implementation on the regional or national level, or using assessment frameworks. This shows that the research is advancing and attempting to meet the outlined problems, which are mainly non-technology related. In addition to strengthening this research, the proportion of papers that adopt a holistic approach may be increased in a bid to meet the challenges involved in transforming a complex energy system. It may also be useful to include a broad variety of stakeholders in research so as to provide a more resilient development of CCS deployment strategies.