Stricter climate targets: Significantly higher electricity consumption by 2030

Because of the stricter climate targets, Minister of Economics Altmaier expects electricity consumption to increase by around ten percent by 2030. However, this only helps climate protection if it is green electricity.

It is precisely climate protection that is “to blame”. To blame for the fact that the demand for electricity – which fell for a while after a peak in 2007 – is now rising again. Because: If you no longer heat your home with oil or gas, but with a heat pump – in the sense of doing without fossil energy sources – you need electricity.

Just like anyone who drives an e-car instead of a gasoline-powered vehicle. Over the course of this month, the number of e-cars in Germany should be one million, but by 2030 it could be 14 million, says Peter Altmaier. This is good news for climate protection and decarbonization, said the Federal Minister of Economics. It increases the chances of achieving the goals set, but it will not remain without consequences for electricity consumption.

An increase of almost 20 percent

The electricity consumption is calculated in terawatts, one terawatt is 1000 gigawatts or one million megawatts. In 2030 it should be around 655 of this almost unimaginable size – the only thing that helps is the comparison: In the Corona year 2020 it was just under 550 terawatt hours – in a decade, consumption should increase by almost 20 percent. However, this only helps climate protection when it comes to green electricity. Altmaier’s balance sheet is mixed:

In recent years we have made progress in expanding the power grid, we have made progress in expanding photovoltaics and offshore wind energy. We are very dissatisfied with the progress made in expanding wind energy on land, and that is why we will think again about what needs to change in each area. ”

On the one hand there is the topic of wind energy. Altmaier complains that many wind turbines fail because of nature conservation and species protection. The CDU politician would like more flexibility – he is very much in favor of protecting species, but not every single bird can have priority over a wind turbine.

Bird or pinwheel?

Altmaier also makes it clear that he is critical of regulations on the minimum distance between settlements and wind turbines, which exist in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, for example. In talks with the federal government, the federal states should set specific targets for the expansion of renewable energies and the corresponding land consumption.

Second, Altmaier is relying on the further development of green hydrogen, which is intended to help industry in particular with the switch from fossil to renewable energy sources.

And then there are the power grids, which are becoming increasingly important with the abandonment of coal and nuclear power – for example, to transport electricity from windy or sunny regions to regions with less wind and less sunshine.

“This is possible in other countries”

The goal, according to Altmaier, is that for the new electricity highways that are needed, that one can get from planning to implementation within a maximum of eight years – that is possible in other countries.

Admittedly, there was already a lot of resistance in the regions concerned with the three new high-performance networks planned to date across Germany such as SuedLink or SuedostLink. But Altmaier makes it clear that climate protection does not work without appropriate measures. And Altmaier makes something else clear: that he is quite ready to take on responsibility for this topic even after the general election.