Press

Annette Becker joins the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI) as Managing Director. The experienced science manager comes from the project management organisation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR-PT).

Wie die Digitalisierung das Energiesystem der Zukunft prägt und wie erfolgreiche Geschäftsmodelle im Rahmen der Energiewende aussehen – Expert*innen diskutieren bei der EWI-Energietagung über das Klimapaket der Bundesregierung und die Zukunft des europäischen Energiemarktes.

On behalf of the Zentraler Immobilien Ausschuss e.V. (ZIA, German Property Federation), EWI and FiFo Cologne jointly analysed how CO2 pricing works and which additional political instruments are necessary to do justice to the special features of the building sector.

On the basis of dena's lead study 'Integrated Energy Transition', the EWI worked with the German Energy Agency (dena) to develop key figures and guard rails for the climate policy debate.

On behalf of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalisation and Energy of North Rhine-Westphalia, the EWI conducted a study on the effects of the coal phase-out path proposed by the "Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment".

On behalf of INEOS, EWI analysed the potential development of gas demand – in case the current level of ambition concerning the expansion of renewable energies and the decrease of reduction of energy consumption cannot be accelerated. This would result is a rising demand for natural gas and an increasing import share. The study further looks into commodity procurement options for natural gas.

On behalf of the WirtschaftsVereinigung Metalle e.V., EWI analysed the effects of an increase in electricity prices on the gross value added of exemplary companies in the non-ferrous metal industry.

EWI further develops its academic and organizational installation. Since fall 2018, EWI forms a new gemeinnützige GmbH that will further proceed as well as develop all activities of ewi Energy Research & Scenarios gGmbh (ewi ER&S). The new legal structure enables an institutional funding of the renowned institute by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MWIDE) from 2019 on. The state’s support helps secure the institute’s basic funding and can amount up to 800,000 euro per year.

Gaseous molecules as energy carrier will be pivotal also for extensive electrification scenarios while a wider use of gas achieves Germany’s decarbonization targets less drastically and less costly, a new paper by ‘ewi Energy Research & Scenarios gGmbH’ and ‘The Gas Value Chain Company GmbH’ demonstrates.

Lower EU gas prices with Nord Stream 2 would enable lower European wholesale electricity prices by up to 16% and result in savings of up to €35bn per year for EU consumers, a new study by ewi Energy Research & Scenarios reveals.

Stephan Kamphues, speaker of the gas TSO holding Vier Gas Transport GmbH, has been elected president of the Society of Benefactors of the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne last wednesday. Kamphues is a fully qualified lawyer and has been working in leading management positions in the gas business since 2004. Since 2009 he has been president of the European gas network operators' association ENTSOG.

Dr. Harald Hecking (34), managing director of ewi ER&S, changes over to the department of innovation at the energy utility Uniper in Düsseldorf on 15 October. The separation from EWI took place according to Dr. Hecking’s own wish and at best agreement with the boards of the institute. A successor is being searched for. Dr. Hecking has been managing ewi ER&S in a dual chairmanship with Dr. Christina Elberg since June 2015. He received outstanding attention recently e.g. for his work as the main scientific advisor to German Energy Agency’s (dena) “Leitstudie Integrierte Energiewende” (Study on Integrated Energy transition).

Yesterday, representants of politics, science and energy business were discussing the benefits of gas and heat infrastructure for the success of the Energiewende at the ewi Energy Debate. At one point all participants agreed: There is no alternative to climate protection, the climate goals need to be reached. Gas and heat networks were said to be elementary for this. Press release in German.

The current gas and heat infrastructure will make a high contribution to an efficient CO2 minimization in an uncertain future and represents flexibility and openness to technologies. A technology-open approach to Energiewende under the use of gas and heat infrastructure will save about €140bn by 2050. These are two central results of the study „Energiemarkt 2030 und 2050 – Der Beitrag von Gas- und Wärmeinfrastruktur zu einer effizienten CO2-Minderung“ which ewi ER&S developed commissioned by Gelsenwasser, Open Grid Europe and RheinEnergie.

On Thursday, 23 November 2017, a press conference is held at Leonardo Royal Hotel Düsseldorf Königsallee. There the new study "Energy market 2030 and 2050 - The contribution of gas and heat infrastructure to an efficient CO2 reduction" will be presented to the public for the first time.

Nord Stream 2 will bring additional gas to Europe and hence increases competition among gas sources in the EU. A new study by ewi ER&S shows that less LNG needs to be imported in the EU if Nord Stream 2 is available. This leads to lower import prices for LNG. As LNG is the marginal source of supply in the EU, this decreases gas prices in the EU.

The hype around blockchain provided some rather discouraging scenarios for companies in the German electricity system. However, a new analysis recently conducted by the research institute ewi Energy Research & Scenarios (ewi ER&S) shows that blockchain currently has no disruptive potential for peer-to-peer power transactions. The study illustrates that platforms (e.g., based on blockchain technology) for peer-to-peer transactions do not face organizational or regulatory barriers. However, levies, taxes and surcharges on final consumer power consumption burden the disruptive potential of the technology and hamper deployment. Public blockchain-based platforms will come with additional costs for underlying distributed mechanisms.

If the EU decided to establish a CPS in 2017, the electricity sector could avoid up to 943 million tons of carbon dioxide until 2025, which is equivalent to the entirety of Germany’s annual emissions. Overall, more than one quarter of these emissions would be avoided by Germany alone. This is the result of an analysis recently conducted by the research institute ewi Energy Research & Scenarios (ewi ER&S).