Online lecture by Otto Machhammer on 8 March 2022, 3 pm

Moderation: Klaus-Peter Jäckel

The energy transition will foreseeably require more renewable energy than can be produced in Germany. We should therefore start thinking at an early stage about where and in what form the shortfall could come from and which consumption sector should then receive which energy. Because there are consumers that absolutely need electricity, e.g. IT, industry or households. And there are consumers that need hydrogen in addition to electricity if they are to defossilise, e.g. the metallurgical or chemical industries. There is also the transport sector, which can be powered by both electricity and hydrogen as well as synthetic fuels.

The aim of the presentation 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 than for process chains based on limited resources. In addition, the low bid values at auctions for large-scale wind and photovoltaic plants must have nothing to do with the real LCOE.

The question of whether wind turbines or photovoltaic systems are more suitable for Power-to-X is also discussed in more detail. And where the meteorologically favoured areas are and which forms of energy are the most cost-effective for transport over long distances. Based on this, the author outlines an energy distribution scenario for Germany that makes sense from the author's point of view.