The Expansion of Renewables at Competitive Electricity Prices

The energy revolution is a decisive key on the way to a climate-neutral future. The transformation of energy-intensive basic industries in particular requires large amounts of electricity from renewable sources. To promote the development of a climate-neutral industry, the expansion of renewable energies must therefore be promoted – at competitive electricity prices. This is the conclusion reached in the position paper published by the state initiative IN4climate.NRW, "Shaping industry's future consistently". The paper was signed by numerous companies in the energy-intensive industry, including BASF, BP, LANXESS, Shell, thyssenkrupp and Uniper.

"Particularly in times of the Corona pandemic, it is extremely important that the industry remains on course for climate protection and sets itself high targets. However, the framework conditions must be right and the prerequisites must be met for their implementation. This applies in particular to the sufficient availability and affordability of electricity from renewable energies," emphasises Prof. Dr. Manfred Fischedick, Scientific Managing Director of the Wuppertal Institute und head of the innovation teams at IN4climate.NRW.

Electricity from renewable energies forms the basis for many innovative technologies that help to shape a climate-neutral industry. They replace conventional processes based on the use of fossil fuels. For the IN4climate.NRW partners, three conditions are crucial to ensure that the transformation of the industry succeeds and the climate targets are met:

• Meeting the high industrial demand for electricity from renewable energies by accelerating the expansion in Germany and importing electricity and electricity-based energy sources.
• Ensuring security of supply and system stability by expanding grids, storage facilities and sector coupling, making electricity demand more flexible and removing barriers to flexibility.
• Competitive electricity and energy prices, for example, by maintaining the relief for energy-intensive companies and in the use of their own electricity.

The paper was developed within the working group Political Framework Conditions at IN4climate.NRW. The aim of the position paper is to identify measures necessary to promote the use of greenhouse gas-neutral processes and procedures. IN4climate.NRW supports this as a platform, which as a state initiative brings together partners from industry, science and politics to work together on projects and strategies for an innovative climate-friendly transformation of the industrial sector.
It is supported by the companies Air Liquide, BASF, BP, Currenta, Kabel Premium Pulp & Paper, LANXESS, Lhoist, RHM, Shell, thyssenkrupp Steel, TRIMET and Uniper as well as the research institute Fraunhofer UMSICHT, the Association of German Cement Works, the German Lime Industry Association and the German Steel Federation.

About SCI4climate.NRW

IN4climate is supported by the state-funded scientific competence centre SCI4climate.NRW. Researchers are investigating the development possibilities and organisational options for setting energy-intensive industry in North Rhine-Westphalia on a climate neutral, sustainable footing. SCI4climate.NRW is a research project involving six institutions and coordinated by the Wuppertal Institute. The partners are the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology (UMSICHT), the German Economic Institute (IW), RWTH Aachen University, the VDEh Institute for Applied Research (BFI) and German cement manufacturers’ association, VDZ gGmbH.