German Energy System Research Articles

The role of hydrogen for the long term development of sustainable energy systems—a case study for Germany

Based on different current long-term energy scenarios the paper discusses the future perspectives of hydrogen in the German energy system as a representative example for the development of sustainable energy systems. The scenario analysis offers varying outlines of the future energy system that determine the possible role of hydrogen. The paper discusses the possibilities of expanding the share of renewable energy and the resulting prospects for establishing clean hydrogen production from renewable energy sources. Emphasis is given to the questions of an ecologically efficient allocation of limited renewable energy resources that can only be assessed from a systems analysis perspective. Findings from recent studies for Germany reveal a strong competition between the direct input into the electricity system and an indirect use as fuel in the transport sector. Moreover, the analysis underlines the paramount importance of reducing energy demand as the inevitable prerequisite for any renewable energy system.

The German Renewable Energy Sources Act—an investment into the future pays off already today

While the success of the German Renewable Energy Sources Act in supporting the use of renewable energy sources for electricity generation is widely acknowledged, it is partly criticised for imposing unjustified extra costs on society. Based on the well established ExternE methodology for the quantification of environmental externalities the paper makes an attempt to estimate the external costs avoided in the German energy system due to the use of renewable energies for electricity generation, and to compare them against the compensation to be paid by grid operators for electricity from renewable energies according to the Renewable Energy Sources Act. In spite of existing uncertainties associated with the assessment of external costs, results clearly indicate that the reduced environmental impacts and related economic benefits do outweigh the additional costs for the compensation of electricity from renewable energies.

Research on highly reliable solid-state lithium batteries in NIRIM

A stable and quality-oriented energy supply in Germany is a pre-requisite for a sustainable national economy. Therefore, also for political reasons, the wind energy as a renewable energy source in onshore and off-shore wind power plants plays a more and more important role in this context. But this increase in wind power productions generates new and up to now unknown problems in the German energy system concerning energy transportation, the reduced availability of this energy for meteorological reasons and the thereby caused need for so called “Hour Reserve from conventional power plants”. Also the fluctuation in wind power production in addition to the fluctuations of the consumer power demand and the not measured production from decentralized sources are resulting in substantially high positive and negative reserve power in the conventional power plants which are up to now not well designed for these new requirements. The analysis of these new burdens for the power plants, the development of new energy services and new strategies of control and the design of new conventional power plants in respect with an optimal operation regime are the main goals of this investigation on behalf of VGB PowerTech.

Rebuilding without restructuring the energy system in east Germany

The east German energy system is in a process of being completely rebuilt. Unfortunately, the huge investments are not used for implementing a technical and institutional restructuring, which is needed in order to achieve energy efficiency. The energy system will, among others, maintain its inefficient structure with separate production of heat and power. The ongoing changes are limited to improvements of power plant efficiency in combination with a change from a system based on brown coal for both heat and power into a system in which the electricity production is still based on brown coal and heating is produced on oil and natural gas. This rebuilding will bring the CO 2-emission down from 20 t/inhabitant in 1989 to 13 t/inhabitant in year 2010, which is still much higher than the EU average on 8 t/inhabitant. This article describes how a restructuring could bring the figure below 7 t/inhabitant. The lack of ability to implement this restructuring of the energy system is, among others, due to an ownership structure, where networks of companies own the entire production and distribution chain from oil and coal to electricity. In this ownership structure, energy restructuring strategies which decrease the consumption of oil and coal will reduce the profits. At the same time the potential regulator, the parliamentary system, is politically and economically interlinked with and dependent upon the established energy companies. Consequently, it is difficult to establish the regulation reforms which are necessary for restructuring of the energy sector. There is still a lot to be gained from a restructuring of the east German energy sector. This restructuring requires institutional reforms, where the public regulation processes become independent of the industry which should be regulated.

96/05713 Restructuring the East German energy system

University academic timelines and a shortage of clinical placements available for students have created challenges for universities to provide maximum clinical exposure and preparation for practise. A State-run health system in Australia developed an incentive whereby students are actively recruited to work as Assistants in Nursing (AINs) whilst completing their undergraduate nursing programme, enabling them to enhance clinical skills learned during university. There have been no previous studies that reflect their experiences.This study aimed to explore and describe experiences of undergraduate AINs in the nursing workforce.Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain in-depth accounts of the undergraduate AIN experience. Six participants who were employed at various healthcare facilities around the Sydney metropolitan area comprised the sample. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data were thematically analysed.Three main themes emerged from the data: becoming part of the team, understanding the scope of the AIN role, and working outside your comfort zone.Findings can add to international discussions in the literature related to the training and education of ancillary nursing staff. Furthermore findings provide insights into some of the challenges faced by tertiary institutions in preparing students for the clinical work environment. Whilst the employment of undergraduate AIN's can be an effective strategy, the lack of formalised guidelines to inform those working with undergraduate AINs may hinder the full potential of their employment.

Restructuring the East German energy system

In the former German Democratic Republic the energy systems was organized centrally with emphasis on autarky and sufficient and cheap energy for all. The use was wasteful with little regard for the environment. After unification of the two German states the East German energy system has been totally restructured. Market economic principles with competition and free pricing have been introduced. The energy industry has been privatized and new generation and transmission equipment built. The gas supply has been changed from town gas to natural gas. The old brown coal power stations are being closed down and new efficient ones built. The transition to a market economy has led to a collapse of industry to one-third of its former size and loss of three-quarters of industrial jobs. Primary energy consumption has been halved. Only road fuels have increased by 50% after car density has reached 90% of the West German level. Strict environmental legislation has resulted in large reductions in emissions and improved ambient air quality. The restructuring is estimated to cost 100 billion deutschmarks of which 50 billion has been spent. The East German energy system is set to become Europe's most modern by the year 2000.