Our fourth edition of the technical briefing for policymakers, and our first for journalists, in Brussels focused on decarbonizing high-temperature heat!
After a few busy days in Brussels, we were delighted to host two 45-minute briefings co-led by our CEO, Peter Schniering, our Cleantech Analyst, Antoine Koen, our EU Policy Manager, Marlène Siméon, and our colleague responsible for Media Relations, Juliane Harlfinger. Some key points discussed were:
✅High-temperature heat processes, such as steel forging and cement production, are vital for modern society and achieving net zero but currently still rely on burning fossil fuels for generating high temperatures (500-2000°C).
✅These processes can be largely electrified in the medium term, often in combination with thermal storage. Commercialization is already underway for many applications, and while significant engineering R&D and economic challenges remain when scaling up, no fundamental scientific breakthroughs are necessary to electrify these processes.
✅Availability of and operating costs for clean electricity are the main obstacles for electric heat, as electricity is currently on average 2-3 times more expensive than gas in Europe and industry is sensitive to OPEX. Though not a silver bullet, a promising solution to close the economic gap is low-cost thermal storage, which could reduce electricity costs by enabling the generation of heat to be timed at periods of low prices and is significantly cheaper than batteries.
✅In addition to electrification, there are other potential options (e.g. geothermal) to directly generate clean heat, especially at low and medium temperatures. These could be beneficial in particular if grid access remains a bottleneck for direct electrification.
A big thank you to all the attendees for their active participation. We look forward to hosting our first-ever edition in Berlin in November!
For more information on high-temperature heat, please see our newly released technical report on Decarbonizing High-Temperature Heat in Industry!
