Storage Demand in the Transport and Chemical Sector

Abstract

Overview In the transport sector, energy transition is still in its beginnings: shares of renewable fuels are at 5% and are, with the exception of a small percentage in electrical rail transport, almost entirely restricted to biofuel. The transport sector, i.e., road, air, shipping, and rail traffic, consumes around 30% of all final energy in Germany and its dependency of over 90% on petroleum is still very high. As a result, its shares in greenhouse gas emissions are at 20%. The necessary structural change in mobility, based on energy transition, is closely linked to the question of operating energy and of energy storage also. Aside from vehicles directly powered by wind or solar energy, mobility without storage is not possible: fuel tanks in cars, gas stations, and airplanes are omnipresent. The focus of the considerations on storage demand in the transport sector is on the question of how these storages can be used with renewable energies via bio and synthetic fuels, and on the question of how much storage is necessary for these new drive technologies, such as e-mobility. Before this, mobility needs today and in future need to be examined. In the chemical sector, the situation is very much alike: there is a great dependency on fossil resources, and decarbonization is inevitable to achieve ambitious climate goals. The structural change to convert and store renewable electricity as primary energy via power-to-X (PtX) represents a storage demand. First estimates will conclude this chapter.