"PtX must first be available for those who have no alternatives to becoming climate neutral, such as steel or chemical plants, ships or aircraft. Schulze underlined this on Tuesday at a Power-to-X conference of the Federal Environment Ministry in Berlin. She is currently examining to what extent the market ramp-up of PtX in air traffic could be forced by a quota. On the other hand, due to the higher efficiency and the competing demands for the use of renewable electricity, it would more sense to operate e-cars with batteries rather than synthetic fuels.
Schulze pleaded for the rapid development of electrolysis capacities in Germany, also for reasons of industrial policy, and for the stimulation of a market ramp-up. A prerequisite for this would be the removal of barriers to the expansion of renewable energies, especially wind power. "But it is clear that we have to think and push PtX internationally," emphasised the Federal Environment Minister. "We will probably never manage to produce everything green PtX ourselves in Germany, but it is about supporting the market from here and disseminating the technologies from here," she said.
PV generation costs of 2.5 cents/kWh
Morocco is an important country for the production of climate-neutral synthetic fuels, combustibles and raw materials, as became clear at the well-attended conference. "In addition to wind power, low-cost solar power opens up attractive opportunities for PtX generation," emphasized Badr Ikken, Director of the Moroccan Research Institute for Solar Energy and New Energies (IRESEN). In the meantime, the electricity production costs of photovoltaics from large ground-mounted plants in the North African country are only 2.5 to 3 cent/kWh.
Create higher added value locally
Ikken does not see any problems in terms of surface area or acceptance, neither for wind power nor photovoltaics. PtX is attractive both for the decarbonization of the own industry, above all the fertilizer production, and for the export. "We can thus also achieve higher added value locally and also create local jobs," Ikken stressed. A 4 megawatt (MW) pilot plant for the production of green ammonia is currently being built, and a 60 MW electrolysis plant near the coast is planned for 2023.
"Much further than with the Desertec initiative".
"We are much further along today than we were with the Desertec initiative 20 years ago," said Ikken. In the meantime, the regional development aspect has become much more important. Germany is an important partner for Morocco in establishing a sustainable and climate-neutral PtX economy. According to a recent study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI), two to four percent of global demand for PtX in 2050 (with a market volume of up to 680 billion euros) could be met by Morocco. (HCN)
