Ladies and Gentlemen,
when the sun and wind fail to deliver electricity in gloomy November, it puts Germany’s energy supply to the test and drives up the price of electricity. On Wednesday, 6 November 2024, cloudy November weather led to one of the toughest tests for the German electricity grid. At around 7:15 a.m., renewables were only able to contribute 12.4 per cent of the load, with specific CO2-emissions of 643 grams per kilowatt hour.
Such ‘dark doldrums’ are the energy transition’s toughest problem. Even if Germany manages to multiply its wind and solar power plants as planned. At night and when there is no wind, all the installed capacity is of no use. To ensure that enough electricity flows all year round, a complex, balanced interplay of all components of the electricity grid is required. Including fossil-fuelled power generators and nuclear power imports from France.
But if Germany wants to manage completely without fossil fuels by 2045, things will be tight. With a 40 per cent share of renewables, the existing short-term storage facilities would be sufficient. From a share of 70 per cent, however, the demand increases sharply, and from 80 to 100 per cent it increases again by a factor of 2 to 4, according to a study.
There are a whole range of options for capping extreme load peaks: Energy-intensive large-scale operations, electric vehicles and heat pumps, for example, can be controlled in such a way that they are unable to use the grid during the most critical phases.
Electricity storage is therefore needed. Germany’s daily electricity consumption provides an initial indication of the absolute values. According to the VDE, it is currently between 1 terawatt hour in summer and 4 terawatt hours in winter.
German pumped storage plants can store just under 40 GWh – around one thousandth of demand. And new pumped storage lakes can hardly be built, as this would require flooding entire valleys. A good 11 GWh of batteries are currently installed, most of them as home storage systems. Together, all the storage systems could supply the German electricity grid for perhaps one hour, then they would be empty.
The performance and capacity of battery storage systems in Germany have more than tripled since 2021. By the middle of the century, analysts at Frontier Economics believe that almost 300 GWh of large-scale battery storage is possible in Germany alone.
But even that would only be around one hundredth of the capacity required by 2045. More would be almost inconceivable due to the huge amount of raw materials required. Then there are the costs.
The German Greenhouse Gas Quota Act must be amended in order to transpose RED III into national law. These demands will be discussed at the 22nd International Conference ‘Fuels of the Future 2025’ in Berlin. Enclosed you will find the joint letter of the German ‘biofuel chain’ with the demand to stop the legislative procedure for the implementation of the UDB.
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $5 million to the University of Kansas (KU) and Avium – a start-up company founded by researchers from KU’s School of Engineering – to advance research and affordability of clean hydrogen. According to the Department of Energy, the work at KU is part of $750 million that will fund 52 projects in 24 states. More at: https://bioenergytimes.com/new-5-million-doe-grant-backs-ku-startups-research-in-green-hydrogen-energy/
California’s Engine Technology Forum (ETF), in a proceeding before the California Energy and Environmental Commission, urged policymakers to recognise the continued importance of advanced renewable biodiesel fuels and maximise their role and inclusion as essential decarbonisation options. https://enginetechforum.org/press-releases/posts/low-carbon-fuels-in-the-spotlight-as-cas-air-board-and-energy-commission-set-to-review-policies
US ethanol exports increased by 5% in September, reaching 148.5 million gallons (540,500 tonnes). The three most important markets, which accounted for 70% of total shipments, were Canada, the United Kingdom and the European Union. https://ethanolproducer.com/articles/usda-us-ethanol-exports-top-148-million-gallons-in-september
Cepsa and Sonatrach have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly carry out a feasibility study for the development of an integrated project for the production of green hydrogen and derivatives in Algeria, mainly aimed at supplying the European market. https://www.moeveglobal.com/stfls/corporativo/FICHEROS/np-cepsa-sonatrach-green-hydrogen-algeria-european-market.pdf
Indonesia plans to increase the biodiesel blending mandate to 50%. This would increase the demand for palm oil to 2 billion litres per year. Compared to the 1.34 billion litres currently consumed under B35. Blending is to be increased to 40% by January 2025. Domestic production is currently only 1.6 to 1.7 billion litres, so a significant increase in production would be required to achieve the B50 plan. https://biofuels-news.com/news/indonesia-aiming-to-accelerate-to-b50-next-year/
Hapag-Lloyd has signed contracts with two Chinese shipyards for a total of 24 new container ships. Of these, 12 newbuildings, each with a capacity of 16,800 TEU, will be built by the Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group. These units will be used to expand the capacity of existing services. A further 12 vessels, each with a capacity of 9,200 TEU, have been ordered from New Times Shipbuilding Company Ltd. and will replace older units in the Hapag-Lloyd fleet that will reach the end of their service life in this decade. https://www.hapag-lloyd.com/en/company/press/releases/2024/11/hapag-lloyd-orders-24-new-container-ships—.html
The UAE Mercantile & Maritime Group announced the expansion of its wholly owned and operated MENA Terminals facility in Fujairah to include a ground-breaking USD 600 million biofuel processing plant. This expansion underlines the Group’s commitment to driving sustainable energy solutions and supports the UAE’s goal of paving the way to a greener future. https://www.chemanalyst.com/NewsAndDeals/NewsDetails/mercantile-maritime-opens-middle-east-largest-biofuel-facility-in-uae-31244
South Africa, Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) has published a Request for Information (RFI) for a strategic pilot project to use green and cleaner fuels for its selected diesel-operated tugboat fleet. The project aligns with Transnet’s commitment to bolster South Africa’s just transition journey to a low carbon-economy focused on cleaner, renewable and green fuels. https://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/tnpa-issues-rfi-for-tugboat-clean-fuels-pilot-project-2024-11-06
The pioneering CO2Bioclean pilot plant was recently inaugurated at Industriepark Höchst near Frankfurt. The plant offers a unique and innovative solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the production of biodegradable plastics. https://wirtschaft.hessen.de/presse/co2bioclean-eroeffnet-innovative-pilotanlage-im-industriepark-hoechst
Aerleum recently announced the successful completion of its $6 million seed round led by 360 Capital and HTGF, with participation from Norrsken, Bpifrance and Marble. The funding will accelerate the industrialisation of Aerleum’s breakthrough technology that converts atmospheric CO₂ and low-carbon hydrogen into synthetic fuels (e-fuels) and chemicals, advancing hard-to-reach sectors towards a carbon-neutral future. https://www.htgf.de/en/htgf-seed-investment-aerleum/
Neste and Finland’s national ice hockey league, Liiga, have started a collaboration in which the majority of Liiga teams will use Neste MY Renewable Diesel for their bus transportation during the 2024–2025 season in Finland. With the switch from fossil diesel to Neste MY Renewable Diesel, Liiga targets to reduce a substantial part of its annual total emissions, approximately 6,400 tons of CO2e. https://www.biobased-diesel.com/post/finland-s-national-ice-hockey-league-to-reduce-emissions-with-renewable-diesel
The China Classification Society (CCS), Weichai Singapore, the Marine Energy and Sustainability Research Department of Nanyang Technological University (MESD) and Pinnacle Marine have signed a research collaboration agreement to test the B100 biofuel for 1,000 hours in Singapore waters. The four-party agreement for this joint project was signed on 10 October 2024, according to the report. https://www.ccs.org.cn/ccswzen/articleDetail?id=202410250491435508
The California state government has announced a new agreement between Airlines 4 America (A4A) and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that will significantly reduce carbon emissions by accelerating the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) for flights within the state. The agreement calls for increasing the availability of SAF for flights within California to 200 million gallons by 2035, an amount that would meet approximately 40% of intrastate travel demand – a more than tenfold increase over current levels. https://www.airlines.org/a4a-and-carb-announce-sustainable-aviation-fuel-partnership/
Lootah Biofuels announced discussing potential collaboration with SAVICO Group, one of Vietnam’s largest companies in the circular economy, green technology, and renewable energy sectors. https://aircargoweek.com/lootah-biofuels-explores-collaboration-with-vietnams-savico/
In honour of Veterans Day, a special fuel promotion in Canada will give local motorists access to a deep fuel discount on two popular ethanol fuel blends, sponsored by Kansas Corn and Veterans for Renewable Fuels. All motorists can fill up at Casey’s on Monday, November 11, from 10 a.m. to noon for the special price of $2.15 per gallon for E15 unleaded fuel and $0.85 per gallon for E85. As an added perk, veterans, active duty service members, reservists and National Guard members will receive a $20 Casey’s gift card from the event sponsors, RFA and Kansas Corn, while supplies last. https://ethanolproducer.com/articles/rfa-veterans-for-renewable-fuels-offers-holiday-fuel-discount-in-olathe-kansas
EverWind Fuels announced that it has been awarded $ 22,6 million from Transport Canada’s Green Shipping Corridor Fund. This is an important milestone in establishing Atlantic Canada as a leading centre for the production and transportation of green hydrogen and ammonia. https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/everwind-fuels-awarded-22-5-million-investment-from-government-of-canada-for-clean-port-amp-green-fuels-hub-869710623.html
In Germany, the new EU-funded ReBioCycle project offers a portfolio of bioplastics sorting and recycling technologies within three complementary waste processing centres. These centres will be established for different technologies and technology levels (TRL) in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and partly in Ireland. https://www.interpack.com/en/Media_News/SPOTLIGHT_Magazine/Global_markets_trends/News_Global_markets_trends/European_ReBioCycle_project_aims_to_develop_circular_solutions_for_bioplastics