VGB POWERTECH Issue 1/2 (2020)

VGB PowerTech 1/2 l 2020
Editorial
2019: Numbers
Dear Ladies,
Dear Sirs,
Numbers do not lie if they are
the right ones and if they are
correct. But don’t start with
pessimism when it comes
to looking at current figures
from the energy industry.
A statement by Margrethe Vestager,
Vice President of the
EU Commission, in December
2019 shows that figures can be
impressive and thought-provoking,
or that they can stand
for necessary innovations. The EU Commissioner referred to a
study by E.ON, according to which in 2017 around 200 billion
kilowatt hours of electricity were consumed globally through
streaming services, i.e. TV and Skype alone, with a clear upward
trend. And this is only one figure that shows the importance
of increasing digitalization in energy consumption. This
represents another major challenge for the EU’s goal, also issued
in December, of making the continent climate-neutral by
2050, said Margrethe Vestager.
Among other things, the study by E.ON reveals another interesting
figure, which refers to the omnipresent “googling”:
According to this, a search query triggers an electricity consumption
of 0.3 watt hours, not much for our industry, which
provides around 3,300 terawatt hours (TWh, 3,300 billion
kilowatt hours, 3,300,000 billion watt hours) annually for consumers
in Europe. But with around 40,000 search queries per
second worldwide (as of 2017), these individual values already
add up and become increasingly important for energy supply
and sustainability strategies.
At national level, initial figures on energy consumption and
energy consumption trends are available for Germany, among
others. According to a current evaluation by the Federal Association
of the Energy and Water Industries (BDEW), in 2019
Germany consumed 2 percent less electricity and 3.3 percent
more gas than in the previous year.
The decline in electricity consumption was mainly due to the
economic downturn. Industry, the largest electricity consumer
with a share of almost 46 percent, had already been using
less electricity for months due to the weaker economic situation.
While initially only the drop in production in the powerintensive
industries contributed significantly to the decrease
in consumption, the development in the entire manufacturing
industry is now responsible for this. Industrial electricity consumption,
for example, fell by 4.1 percent compared with the
previous year.
According to preliminary figures, a total of 511 billion kilowatt
hours of electricity were consumed in 2019. Despite the declines,
the largest consumer was industry with 234 billion kWh
(45.7 percent), followed by public institutions, agriculture,
trade and industry with 140 billion kWh (27.4 percent) and
households with around 126 billion kWh (24.6 percent). The
transport sector accounted for just under 12 kWh (2.3 percent).
However, according to BDEW, the decline should not
be regarded as an indication of a general decline in electricity
consumption. The increasing electrification of the heating and
transport sector would increase the demand for electricity in
the medium and long term. The same applies to digitisation,
with which the number of electronically operated devices and
the power consumption of data centers will increase, and in
addition, there will be the further effects of sector coupling,
which may lead to higher consumption on the part of power
generation, but will result in lower values in the overall context
of energy consumption and emission reduction.
As far as the structures of energy consumption and electricity
generation in Germany are concerned, two remarkable figures
can be noticed:
Six million tonnes of CO 2 were saved in 2019 as a result of the
increased use of gas-fired power plants for electricity generation.
With 91 terawatt hours of electricity from natural gas,
more electricity than ever before in Germany came from gas
power plants. This represents an increase of 7.5 TWh compared
to the previous year.
According to first estimates by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Energiebilanzen
(AGEB), the German Working Group on Energy
Balances, renewable energies increased their contribution to
total energy consumption by 4 percent in 2019. Wind power increased
its contribution by 15 percent. Hydro power increased
by 4 percent. Solar energy increased only slightly by 1 per cent.
Biomass, which accounts for more than 50 percent of total renewables,
grew 2 percent. Since renewables typically make a
large contribution to power generation, this effect will have a
correspondingly positive impact on our sector.
Last but not least, a figure on environmental protection and
climate conservation: According to calculations by the German
Energy and Water Association (BDEW), the energy industry
has reduced its CO 2 emissions by 44 percent by 2019 compared
with 1990. This means that it will already significantly exceed
the 40 percent reduction target for 2020 this year.
Dipl.-Ing. Christopher Weßelmann
Editor in Chief, VGB PowerTech, Essen, Germany
* Sources: ec.europa.eu/eurostat/de/home, www.eon.com,
www.ag-energiebilanzen.de, www.bdew.de
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