18Dec 2020 
A pilot project in sunny and windy Chile aims to show whether and how green hydrogen can be produced sustainably there and marketed globally. Innovative technologies and processes 'Made in Germany' will come into play.
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Germany chaired the North Seas Energy Cooperation for a year. In this group, nine countries and the European Commission work together to develop offshore wind energy and the grid infrastructure at sea. Here's an initial review.
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Carbon contracts for difference can help to make energy-intensive sectors more climate-friendly. Who promises what to whom in a carbon contract for difference? Come this way to find out more!
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'By setting itself ambitious expansion targets up to 2040, Germany is building further on its pioneering role in the field of offshore wind energy. The price of green electricity from offshore wind energy keeps falling, making offshore wind a key pillar in the German and European energy transition.'
Peter Altmaier, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, on the increase in the expansion target for offshore wind energy
This time in 'What the press say': What course the heads of state and government want to set five years after the Paris Climate Agreement, and why the roll-out of green electricity is going to pick up speed
Find out moreThe Federal Network Energy has announced the successful bids in the first auction round under the Act to Phase Out Coal-Fired Electricity Generation. As planned, more than four gigawatts of coal-fired power plant capacity is to be taken off the grid before the end of this year. Auctions for decommissioning will take place from 2020 to 2026. In return, operators of coal-fired power plants receive compensation. The provisions governing the compensation to be received by operators of coal-fired power plants using hard coal have already been approved by the European Commission.
The revised version of the Offshore Wind Energy Act entered into force on 10 December 2020. It raises the expansion target for offshore wind energy from the present level of 15 gigawatts to 20 gigawatts by 2030. The target for 2040 is 40 gigawatts. Furthermore, offshore wind turbines can now be erected more quickly and better coordinated with the expansion of the power grid.
The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy has launched a new call for bids for funding, addressed to the basic materials industry. Innovative processes are to enable the capture and use of carbon dioxide and thus cut industrial CO2 emissions. This will not least require the further development of carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies. In Germany, the industrial sector accounts for roughly 20% of carbon emissions, and around 30% of these emissions are process-related. It is true that German industrial companies already cut their carbon emissions by around 30% between 1990 and 2018, but much still remains to be done: In order to further reduce these greenhouse gas emissions, it is important to step up the efforts to cut carbon emissions in particularly energy-intensive industrial sectors like the cement, chemicals or steel industry. The optimisation of carbon capture methods and the development of efficient processes for the use of CO2 are important ways to reduce process emissions which cannot be avoided or which are very difficult to avoid.
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