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After four years, the “North German Energy Transition - NEW 4.0” project will end next week.
In the network funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics, 60 partners from business, science and politics worked together.
They developed - as an example for the north - structures for an overall system of renewable electricity supply.
The development of digital technologies for the connection of electricity supply and demand played a key role.
The follow-up project “North German Real Laboratory” begins in April, with the focus on building a hydrogen economy.
Werner Beba, professor at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, project coordinator of NEW 4.0 and North German Real Laboratory, told WELT how the energy transition should progress in the north and throughout Germany.
WORLD:
Mr. Beba, what are the most important results from NEW 4.0?
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Werner Beba:
We have gained the certainty that the integrated energy transition is feasible - in northern Germany and throughout Germany.
We have learned, understood and, with our projects, found solutions for how we can operate a safe and reliable power supply without large power plants.
We cannot shut down all central power plants at the push of a button - but we know the way to get there.
WORLD:
What do the signposts look like?
Beba: The
main challenge is to synchronize the weather-dependent generation of renewable electricity with consumption.
The decentralized power supply system has immense potential for flexibility in order to use more or less electricity in the short term, i.e. to shift consumption over time.
We did not expect that on this scale.
The future potential of this flexibility - considered for the whole of Germany - is between a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 45 gigawatts of electricity.
For comparison: all over Germany today we have a power plant output of 80 to 85 gigawatts.
If we can use this potential for flexibility, we will come a big step closer to phasing out nuclear power and coal.
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WORLD:
NEW 4.0 had 60 partners from business, science and politics.
How did that work
Beba:
The power of this network was great.
Many partners from the energy sector, industry, science and ministries have never worked together in this way before.
They could share knowledge with one another, but also break down barriers.
This is how many solutions came about that we hadn't expected before.
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WORLD:
Did you expect the great complexity that NEW 4.0 has brought about as a whole?
Beba:
No.
At the beginning, with NEW 4.0, we focused extremely on how to reduce the effort involved in network and feed-in management for wind power and solar systems.
Their performance and earnings fluctuate constantly.
As a result, however, we achieved a lot more for the assessment of the entire electricity system.
This is mainly due to the fact that we have made so much progress in terms of the ability to forecast electricity generation from decentralized systems in connection with electricity consumption.
270 employees worked on NEW 4.0 in 100 projects for four years, plus three years of preparation time.
This has resulted in an enormous number of innovations.
We also did not expect that the power output in Schleswig-Holstein, which has to be taken from the grid every year, would increase so strongly during the project phase - from 1.3 terawatt hours to 3.3 terawatt hours - electricity that supplies 3.5 million households could.
This also shows the urgency with which the findings from NEW 4.0 have to be translated into real power supply systems.
WORLD:
Electricity from wind farms that must not be generated in order not to overload the grids - a great paradox and a shortcoming of the energy transition.
Beba:
Above all, it is also a problem of acceptance for the energy transition, because that cannot be conveyed in the long term.
In terms of the availability and use of renewable energies, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein are ten to 15 years ahead of other regions in Germany because of the high volume of wind power.
We also benefit from our findings with NEW 4.0, which we have gained for the construction of a fully integrated electricity system based on renewable energies.
The central key to this is flexibility.
"The IT security of decentralized energy systems is a huge issue"
WORLD:
This flexibility can only be achieved through the use of complex digital technologies.
Does Germany, does the north have the necessary digital competence and the experts?
Beba:
We have dealt with this in a separate focus area for training and further education.
We are approaching a serious shortage of skilled workers.
There is a very great need for IT science courses for the energy industry, but so far hardly any offers.
The IT security of decentralized energy systems is also a huge issue, also because of numerous hacker attacks on critical infrastructure in recent years.
In this respect, as HAW Hamburg at the NEW 4.0 Academy, we have also developed new job profiles for a decentralized energy industry and tested them in advanced training courses - for example for future courses at universities in northern Germany.
With a view to the energy transition, we see a qualification gap that we urgently need to close.
This is especially true for the subject of a hydrogen economy, which is now becoming more and more visible.
WORLD:
The practical test for the findings from NEW 4. could come faster than expected - also due to the surprising shutdown of the Vattenfall coal-fired power plant in Moorburg after only five years of operation.
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Beba:
This step is good and right, apart from the fact that much older coal-fired power plants will probably continue to run for a long time.
But every shutdown of a coal-fired power plant makes the grids more receptive to the feed-in of more green electricity.
For the state and federal government, there is now more pressure on the boiler to actually use the solutions developed in NEW 4.0.
For example, avoiding network bottlenecks when coordinating electricity generation and consumption between Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
The federal government must now revise the electricity market regime and create incentives to actually increase the potential for flexibility with market-based instruments.
We have made suggestions for this.
The companies are ready for this - but are prevented from doing so by taxes and levies on the electricity price.
For example, anyone who offers the storage of green electricity or services for greater flexibility on the market may not be penalized and charged with the green electricity surcharge or higher network usage fees on the electricity price.
WELT:
You have been saying for years that for an energy turnaround - based on renewable electricity - Germany needs significantly more capacity, especially from wind power and solar systems.
But the expansion of wind power in particular is barely making any headway.
Beba:
Northern Germany is still in the best position by far when it comes to expanding wind power and the grids and, as a result, supplying green electricity.
But even here in the north we need far more generation capacity from wind or solar systems if we want to generate heat and fuels from renewable electricity in the future.
For this so-called sector coupling, the generation capacity of renewable energies in the north would have to be tripled by 2035 and quadrupled by 2050.
According to the findings of the Wuppertal Institute in the new study “Climate-neutral Germany”, this also applies to the whole of Germany.
Green electricity is the basis of the entire energy transition, including for building a hydrogen economy.
It is indispensable for the decarbonisation of the economy, mobility, industrial and building heating.
WORLD:
In this year of many state elections and the federal elections, it will be difficult to get a new political boost for the energy transition - especially against the background of the pandemic.
Beba:
The federal government has had great concerns over the past twelve months with the pandemic.
The time after the pandemic must mean more innovation for climate protection.
Economic aid must be coupled with climate protection innovations.
I can certainly see the political commitment of the current and potential governing parties to this.
The new EEG is - with a view to the electricity market regulation - not yet sufficient, but it is a step forward.
The prospect that the entire EEG surcharge will in future no longer be financed through the electricity price but from taxes is good.
But I fear that not all of the urgently needed steps for a major energy reform will be set in this legislative period.
That will probably last until after the coalition negotiations and the formation of a government in the federal government in spring 2022.