In the recent years, a large number of countries have set targets for decarbonizing their energy systems, some through international treaties such as the Paris agreement, or, the recent EU green deal. In our study we focus on Germany, which very recently has made an amendment to its Climate Change Act, and now aims for total climate-neutrality until the year of 2045, with additional intermediate targets for years 2030 and 2040. Two common instruments for decarbonization, are first the carbon trading schemes, which for instance have been implemented in Europe through the ETS system, where a fixed volume of carbon certificates have been allocated to the large-scale emitter entities such as power producers and industry. These certificates can be then traded between these parties (the so-called cap and trade option), so in this way it is a volume-driven approach. Another instrument is the direct taxation of CO2, by which every party has to pay for each amount of emissions that they cause. Thereby an extra cost is attached to the goods that have CO2 emissions associated with them. Hence it is a price-driven approach, where the price per ton is fixed and the actual sum of emission is a reaction to this price. In Germany, a climate package had been announced in late 2019, through which a price corridor has been set up to 65 €/ton until 2026. The aim of this study is to determine the viability of emission regulations and various generation technologies in the German electricity supply system for the year 2050. The European carbon trading scheme, which attempted to cap emissions at a specific limit, is argued by many to be an insufficient measure; opening the discussion for a taxation of CO2 by each emitter instead. In parallel, the possible role of hydrogen–both produced and imported–in the future electricity supply by their combustion in the combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) plants will be investigated. In the course of the study, the cost-optimal way to reduce CO2 emissions by up to 95% (compared to 1990) is examined, assuming various projections for electricity demand of 2050.     «

In the recent years, a large number of countries have set targets for decarbonizing their energy systems, some through international treaties such as the Paris agreement, or, the recent EU green deal. In our study we focus on Germany, which very recently has made an amendment to its Climate Change Act, and now aims for total climate-neutrality until the year of 2045, with additional intermediate targets for years 2030 and 2040. Two common instruments for decarbonization, are first the carbon tr...     »