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A rapid industrial heat transition will contribute to climate protection and is necessary to fulfil Germany‘s contribution to reducing natural gas consumption as part of REPowerEU.
By 2030, industrial plants in Germany can save 90 TWh of natural gas through the electrification of process heat. This represents up to three quarters of the savings required from industry by the REPowerEU plan and a reduction of 12.5 million tonnes of CO₂ – 18 percent of the target for the industrial sector in the German climate protection law.
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The use of heat pumps and electric boilers in industry must proceed in tandem with the decarbonisation of the electricity sector.
Flexible electricity consumption helps to integrate a high share of renewable energy and to make better use of its volatile generation. Such flexibility will make it possible to meet the German government‘s target of 80 percent renewables by 2030 efficiently.
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Removing regulatory barriers and perverse incentives makes electrification more attractive and enables flexibility.
In order to stimulate flexible consumption, the introduction of time-differentiated grid charges must be made a political priority. Likewise, privileging natural gas-based technologies over applications using direct electricity must end.
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In the German Energy Security Act, the year 2035 should be set as the deadline for the phase-out of fossil fuels in process heating up to 500 degrees.
A special support programme can be used to close the cost gap for electricity-based technologies, and a statutory zero carbon standard for new investments can create planning and investment certainty.
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