Berlin (Reuters) – According to the German Energy Agency for the energy transition, the federal government must plan the lines for gas, hydrogen and electricity together in the future.
In a study published on Tuesday, the state agency Dena argued that integrated planning, together with the acceleration of permits, helps to develop the infrastructure efficiently . Ultimately, the long-distance and local heat supply in the regions must also be taken into account. This requires a system development plan (SEP), in which the federal government, the states, network operators, an expert committee and the citizens themselves should all participate. This SEP must be anchored in law. With the new government’s plans to shut down coal-fired power plants as early as 2030, the challenges are growing: “The pressure in the boiler is just very high,” said Dena boss Andreas Kuhlmann.
The Dena study also suggests that the existing natural gas network should be used primarily for transporting the increasing amounts of hydrogen, in which there will be more and more free capacity as a result of the switch to climate-friendly fuels. In order to make better use of all networks, the government must also reform taxes and duties. If, for example, charges were staggered more precisely according to the times the networks were used, lines could be utilized more efficiently. However, the focus of the burden on energy sources must always be on their greenhouse gas emissions. In order to secure the supply, additional incentives for those energy suppliers who compensate for fluctuating feed-ins, for example with wind or solar power, will be necessary in the future.
The conversion to the growing amounts of wind and solar power made it necessary to expand the transmission grids, especially from north to south. However, this one is making slow progress. With the planned faster phase-out of coal, the previous plans for several thousand kilometers of networks have to be accelerated.
Source: Reuters
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