Acute need for action

It's relieving news, the price of gas has fallen below 100 euros per megawatt hour for the first time since the dramatic high in the summer. Sure, it's still five times what it used to be. But the supply situation has eased, at least for now. However, the swings on the energy market this year were also significantly driven by the trading principles of our energy markets. In this respect, there is a need for action and regulation to prevent speculation and excess profits by individuals from damaging the real economy to such an extent.

The fact that our Chancellor has finally gotten over himself to pacify his coalition regarding the operating lives of the last remaining nuclear power plants - a decision that helps, but still falls short. Net public power generation in 2021 shows that a remarkable 224.6 of some 487 terawatt-hours (TWH) were generated by renewables - 46 percent of the electricity required. However, 2021 was not a boom year. In that case, energy demand would naturally be higher and the share of renewables smaller. Wind power contributed the largest share with 113 TWH and is roughly on a par with lignite. In this energy mix, 160 TWH are now scheduled to come off the grid in the medium term - 65 TWH of nuclear power next spring and 99 TWH from lignite a few years later. It would therefore be necessary to roughly double the generation of energy from renewable sources. How can this be possible if the expansion of wind power alone has been consistently stalled since 2019? If energy sources continue to be eliminated without replacing them in the necessary quantities, not only will energy prices continue to rise in the coming years - there is a threat of energy shortages with correspondingly disastrous consequences for our business location.

In mo's 11/2022 issue, we conducted three interviews with energy-intensive companies in our industry, which show where the current problems lie and what strategies the companies are using to work on their own future - but also what they expect from politicians. There is a lot to do. One interviewee put it in a nutshell: We need an Agenda 2030 for energy generation, which must then be implemented consistently if the energy sources of nuclear power, lignite and gas are to be substituted without losing a large part of our energy-intensive industry. In any case, energy and resource efficiency will no longer be just the nice buzzword that looks good in a marketing brochure in the future - the issue will determine the survival of many businesses. There are few alternatives left but to make the best of the current situation - let's do it!