Greening the Gas - Biogas & Hydrogen
How to implement the green transition in the energy intensive sectors?
This question needs not only national but also a European and global response. The Netherlands and Denmark are both frontrunners in deploying renewable energy in power generation and are developing innovate solutions in the next steps of a European green energy transition. There are, however, challenges in the next steps of the energy transition as several sectors are not coupled to a green electricity network. In both the Netherlands and Denmark this is seen in the transport, agriculture and industrial sectors.
Solutions to integrate the renewable energy in a future energy system is dependent on both an expansion of renewables, but also storage and power-to-x technologies. Simply put, power-to-x enables the green transition as it empowers the conversion, storage and expansion of renewable energy – e.g. wind and solar – as well as transferal of renewable electricity to CO2 heavy sectors such as transportation and industrial production. Sector coupling focusing on the synergies between renewable energy and green fuels such as green hydrogen and biogas will play an important role on the path to a carbon neutral energy system.
With the EU Green Deal, the EU Commission is paving the way for more investments in green hydrogen production (Energy Valley) and other new technologies. Having a bilateral project in hydrogen, as recently agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding, Denmark and the Netherlands have an obvious opportunity to join forces to develop power-to-x solutions and projects in the coming years.
Decarbonizing the Built Enviroment - District Heating & Energy Efficiency
How do we decarbonize the built environment?
Buildings represent approximately 28% of the total energy consumed in the Netherlands and 40% in Denmark. The potential to save energy focusing on the existing building stock and energy infrastructure is therefore substantial. The Netherlands has initiated a major renovation and retrofitting strategy with an initial focus on the social housing sector, which represents 1/3 of the total building stock.
Heating of houses in the Netherlands is largely based on fossil gas and reaching the national target of transitioning 1.5 million housing units away from gas before 2030 as a stepping stone to a carbon neutral built environment by 2050, will require an enormous effort. Improved energy efficiency and district heating technologies will play a major role in reaching these targets. While the Netherlands can draw on Danish experiences when it comes to widespread district heating networks and a long tradition for energy efficiency in houses, the Netherlands is a frontrunner on some of the heating sources of the future such as geothermal and aquathermal energy as well as energy neutral homes.
Electricity - Wind Power and Sector Integration
How do we expand wind power generation while ensuring better sector integration?
The Netherlands and Denmark are both frontrunners in deploying renewable energy in power generation and are developing innovate solutions in the next steps of a European green energy transition. The installed capacity of offshore wind alone in the Netherlands will be increased to approximately 11 GW by 2030 and in Denmark at least 7 GW, including two offshore wind energy hubs, will be added to the existing capacity within the same timeframe. There are, however, challenges integrating the still larger quantities of electricity based on wind in the electricity system. Expanding the use of electricity into new sectors and ensuring flexible and smart use will help enable the potential of a fluctuating energy source such as wind.
Solutions to integrate the renewable energy production in a future energy system is dependent on both an expansion of renewables, but also efficient transmission, storage and flexible use. Simply put, finding ways of storing wind energy to ensure that the consumption of electricity is decoupled from the generation, is a crucial part of a future fossil free energy sector. Being able to either use the electricity close to where it is generated or efficiently transmit it to other regions will also be a necessary part of the solution.