Green hydrogen emerges as a promising solution to the intermittency of renewable energy resources, offering storage and transport capabilities essential for a sustainable energy future. However, establishing a viable supply chain poses challenges due to high conversion costs and logistical complexities. Hence, considering the cost dynamics of the entire supply chain is crucial to derive […]
By its Climate Protection Act Germany is committed to net zero GHG emissions by 2045, implying zero emissions from space heating, a major part of final energy consumption. The present political discussion reflected in recent legislation is dominated by use of heat pumps and renewable power. This approach risks to fail due to too slow […]
If two different jurisdictions are involved in the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) chain, CO2 handling needs to be harmonized across borders and interface issues should be resolved (e.g. technical and operational standards, certification, transfer of ownership and risk, etc.). Similar to the imbalance which exists between the demand for fossil fuels between importing and […]
The present German energy policy is focussed on further increase of renewable capacity and power consumption to achieve net zero GHG emissions by 2045 while maintaining security of energy supply. The planned pace of the rollout of renewables looks ambitious but feasible and could result in phasing out substantial volumes of unabated coal-fired power production […]
As part of the sustainable energy transition in Germany, substantial investments in power grid infrastructure are planned. They are intended to provide flexibility to an electricity system increasingly relying on variable renewable energy sources, and on European interconnection. While much research has been done on the benefits of renewables, the economic impact of the necessary […]
In Germany decarbonization of the electricity sector by fostering renewables and now phasing out coal-fired power is on track to reach the 2050 de-carbonisation targets, while decarbonising non-electric energy consumption is proving to be more difficult. The present discussion of a national hydrogen strategy has run into strong political opposition against carbon sequestration as a […]
As the European region continues to prioritise the decarbonisation of its energy system, Germany provides a fascinating case study of the potential gains and pitfalls from the introduction of renewables into the energy mix, in particular with relation to gas. In this extensive review of German energy policy and its impact over the past few […]
Germany has set itself a huge challenge in trying to move away from fossil fuels and abandon nuclear power, while remaining a major industrial power. This challenge to create an Energiewende – an energy turnaround or transformation – has ambitious targets. David Buchan argues that Germany is on track to meet only one of its […]
The oil price collapse of 1986 revived once again the old interest in the process of price formation in the petroleum industry which has long attracted suspicions of anti-competitive behaviour. Indeed, the first and the most famous case to attract economists’ attention after the adoption of the Sharman Act in 1870, the first example of […]
The majority of aggregate demand studies, whether concerned with energy or other goods, are based on the notion of a stable long-run demand function, which implies the existence of a unique equilibrium demand for any given relative price and income level. Given this static relationship, the effects of any price (or income) change will, by […]
As Europe’s largest industrial economy and, before the Ukraine war, heavily reliant on Russian gas exports, Germany was heavily impacted by the 2022 Russian gas shut-off. Having weathered the winter of 2022-2023 without any supply shortfall, the German gas market outlook for winter 2023/24 is more certain, even as the macro environment has darkened, with […]
The role of distributed energy resources (DERs) in future power systems is becoming increasingly important due to the ongoing transformation of the electricity sector towards carbon neutrality and higher decentralization. As changes in the demand side continue, such as the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps, and the connection of DERs to the […]