by DC member Thorsten Rixmann, Chief Marketing Officer of the Obrist Group

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced plans to replace the Green Deal with a new agenda. Her aim is to reduce bureaucracy, boost the economy and still make the EU climate neutral. Green methanol, as a universal, climate-neutral and cost-effective energy source, must be part of this agenda.

The EU Commission's reorientation from the Green Deal to the new agenda is exactly the right time to roll out the Gigaplant concept on a large scale under the European flag. Gigaplants are a kind of giant solar park, but instead of supplying electricity, they supply green methanol. The key feature is that more climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed from the atmosphere during production than is emitted during subsequent use. This means that gigaplants are CO2-negative and therefore climate-positive.

Climate protection and economic efficiency

In addition to climate protection, the gigaplant concept is particularly notable for its economic efficiency, an aspect that is particularly important in Europe's new agenda. The gigaplants supply liquid methanol for less than six cents per kilowatt hour, which is far cheaper than any other known energy source. What's more, unlike other sustainable energy sources such as photovoltaics or wind power, methanol is base load capable, meaning it is available regardless of weather conditions.

The high economic efficiency results from the operation of the gigaplants in the Earth's sun belt, where solar power is available at a cost of only 0.88 cents or even less per kilowatt hour due to the intensity of the sun. These so-called electricity generation costs for converting another form of energy into electrical power range between three and over five cents for conventional solar parks, for wind turbines between just under four (onshore) and around twelve cents (offshore), for biomass between seven and 17 cents, for natural gas between just under eight and 13 cents, for hard coal and lignite between ten and 20 cents, and for nuclear power plants between 3.5 and eight cents per kilowatt hour. Gigaplant electricity is therefore around two-thirds cheaper than the cheapest alternative process.

However, as electricity is difficult to store on a large scale and even more difficult to transport over long distances, it is ‘only’ used in the gigaplant for electrolysis to produce hydrogen from water in the first step and methanol from this in the second step. The water required for this does not have to be supplied to the plant because it is extracted from the air. A humidity level of just ten percent is sufficient, which means that the gigaplants can be built even in deserts or other wasteland that cannot be used for any other purpose. This keeps costs low and avoids conflicts with settlement projects or agriculture.

Existing transport routes can continue to be used

Important for economic efficiency and security of supply: methanol is liquid at normal temperatures and can therefore be transported via all transport routes that already exist for fossil fuels. Pipelines, tankers, tankers and so on can distribute liquid methanol worldwide without any conversion. This is a decisive advantage, especially over the hydrogen economy, which has long been favoured by politicians. Pure hydrogen can only be transported under high pressure or at extremely low temperatures, which makes it dangerous and expensive.

Europe now has the opportunity to position itself at the forefront of renewable, base-load-capable and affordable energy as the driving force behind a global methanol economy. In view of the energy policy and economic upheavals of recent years, it has become clear that a reliable energy supply at internationally competitive costs is essential to maintain industrialisation as the basis for our prosperity. Green methanol offers the ideal basis for this, without losing sight of climate protection.