Our technical briefing in the German parliament zoomed in on the competitiveness of industrial processes. How can we decarbonize energy-intensive applications, such as high-temperature heat, while strengthening competitiveness again?
High-temperature heat processes, such as steel forging and cement production, still rely on fossil fuels for high temperatures (500-2000°C). However, they 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.
Our main policy recommendations are:
✅Policy must target significantly lower electricity costs.
→ Incentivize thermal storage, including necessary changes in market regulation.
→ Deploy all available energy system tools, such as grid storage and clean dispatchable power, to produce synergies that lower electricity costs.
→ Accelerate permitting and build more transmission lines and substations to ensure availability of electricity for all consumers.
✅Prioritize biogas to applications where there are no current alternatives available instead of wasting in processes that are better decarbonized without.
✅Fund R&D for the highly tailored engineering work required to integrate electric heat into industrial processes, whether by retrofit or new builds.
✅Fund R&D into advanced clean process heat from solar, geothermal, or nuclear sources to secure additional benefits.
The 45-minute briefing was co-led by our Cleantech Analysts, Peter Ruschhaupt and Antoine Koen, and our Founder & CEO, Peter Schniering, and our Head of Operations, Leonie Brand.
A big thank you to the attendees for their active participation, including insight perspectives by DIROSTAHL Karl Diederichs GmbH & Co KG’s Managing Partner Roman Diederichs on the degree of pragmatism needed to restore competitiveness whilst accelerating development of clean technologies.
For more information on decarbonizing high-temperature heat in industry, please see our technical report.
