Green electricity and hydrogen - Is the energy transition working? In search of clues in the east
At a site behind the former Atomkraftwerk Lubmin, Stephan Knabe is planning the future. On six hectares in the shadow of the decommissioned cooling tower, a large electrolysis plant is to produce hydrogen from water. This is supposed to start in 2026, according to the founder of the company Deutsche Regas. Likewise, in 2026, a floating terminal at the Lubmin harbor is to convert shipped ammonia into hydrogen. The gas is to flow south through a pipeline originally built for natural gas from the Nord Stream pipeline. The first converted section is supposed to go into operation in 2025.
There's a lot of "will" and "want" there, but Knabe and pipeline operator Gascade leave no doubt: They are investing a lot of capital in the German energy transition, the shift to renewable energies, in which hydrogen is to play a decisive role. The plans sound very concrete. That's probably why Carsten Schneider, the Federal Commissioner, is making a stop at the two companies at the Lubmin harbor during his summer tour. The whole tour is meant to clearly show: The energy transition is in full swing - even though there is headwind at the moment.
"It's going to be tough"
The AfD is celebrating an election victory, a party that denies human-made climate change and wants to stop the energy transition. They want to go back to nuclear power, coal, and gas. The rising Bundnis Sahra Wagenknecht also demands a return to cheap gas from Russia. "Germany's energy supply cannot be secured solely with renewable energies within the framework of today's technologies," it says in the BSW founding manifesto. There are bitter opponents against every new wind turbine, every solar park in many places.
Schneider knows that. "One should not be naive," says the SPD politician. "In the coming years, it will be tough to implement the different installations, because the opponents are deliberately used by BSW and the AfD." The traffic light wants to counteract.
In the first half of 2024, Germany obtained almost 60 percent of its electricity from renewable sources. Eastern Germany is contributing disproportionately to the energy transition, says Schneider. 15 percent of the population, but 27 percent of the renewable energy. Without Eastern Germany, there would be no energy transition. That's all "still not positively reported enough," thinks the Eastern Commissioner.
The story of PCK Schwedt
Schneider tells a positive story first during his summer tour, the story of the PCK Schwedt refinery in northeastern Brandenburg. The large refinery in the northeast of Brandenburg has given up Russian oil on the orders of the federal government since the beginning of 2023 due to the Ukraine conflict. A hard break. But it is justified, the federal government says. The supply sources have been successfully changed, and the utilization rate is again at 80 percent - not as high as before with Russian oil, but high enough for economic operation.
In Schwedt, too, the future is being planned with hydrogen, even if not quite as concretely and in the short term as in Lubmin. Schwedt's mayor Annekathrin Hoppe (SPD), who was very concerned about the future of the refinery and the city only a year ago, now says: "My optimism prevails." Schneider is very pleased. A success story from the east.
In the realm of Stellarators
Promising prospects exist for progress in nuclear fusion at the Max-Planck Institute for Plasmaphysics in Greifswald. In a massive hall there, they are experimenting with a device called a stellarator, a several stories high monster made up of coils, tubes, wiring, and valves. The goal, as everywhere in the billion-dollar fusion research worldwide: to demonstrate that large-scale energy can be obtained through nuclear fusion and commercially utilized. It could supplement electricity from wind or the sun at some point.
Institute director Robert Wolf remains cautious, the 60-year-old not wanting to promise too much. But during Schneider's visit, he manages to make this statement: "I think we can build such a facility. The question then is, is it economically viable or not. The question has not been definitively answered." The breakthrough is not necessarily just around the corner. Wolf names 2050 as a timeline for a "fusion demonstrator."
"We are working on proving that it works"
Inventiveness! Investments! Support! Jobs! Growth! Schneider is happy to direct attention towards these aspects. That many citizens in the East have doubts about the politics of the traffic light coalition and prefer to protest instead of trusting climate protection and renewable energy, which seem to have no economic upside: The federal government can only rely on the fact that this will pass and that the positive story is absorbed.
The representatives of Regas and Gascade in the Lubminer Harbor cannot begin to address the question of whether the political climate and doubts about the energy transition could slow them down. The thought has not yet occurred to them. After a brief moment of reflection, Gascade manager Dennis Wehmeyer says: "We are working every day to prove that it works."
- Stephan Knabe, the founder of Deutsche Regas, is planning a hydrogen production plant at Atomkraftwerk Lubmin's site.
- The plans include an electrolysis plant and a floating terminal to convert shipped ammonia into hydrogen.
- Knabe and pipeline operator Gascade are investing heavily in Germany's energy transition, focusing on hydrogen and renewable energies.
- Carsten Schneider, the Federal Commissioner, is visiting these companies as part of his summer tour to show the progress of the energy transition.
- The AfD is celebrating an election victory, promoting nuclear power, coal, and gas, contrary to the energy transition.
- Schneider acknowledges the challenges in implementing renewable energy installations due to opposition from BSW and the AfD.
- Nearly 60% of Germany's electricity came from renewable sources in the first half of 2024, and Eastern Germany contributes disproportionately.
- The PCK Schwedt refinery, in northeastern Brandenburg, has given up Russian oil and is planning its future with hydrogen.
- Schwedt's mayor Annekathrin Hoppe and Schneider view this as a success story, highlighting the refinery's adaptability and optimism for the future.
- The Max-Planck Institute for Plasmaphysics in Greifswald is conducting research in nuclear fusion with stellarators.
- Robert Wolf, the institute director, is cautious but optimistic, stating that they can build a fusion facility, but the economic viability is yet to be determined.
- Schneider emphasizes the benefits of inventiveness, investments, support, jobs, and growth in renewable energy and climate protection, encouraging public trust.
