How many demands do you want to make on the lifeboat when the ship starts to sink? The recent political debate about bioenergy with CO2 storage (BECCS) reminded me of this cartoon.
The Party for the Animals proposed banning sustainable biomass + CO2 storage for electricity production. Fortunately, the House of Representatives decided not to throw away tools while an important part of the job still needs to be completed.
The urgency of tackling climate change is evident, as are the geopolitical disadvantages of our great dependence on fossil energy. The Netherlands has been working seriously on the energy transition for ten years now and has quadrupled the share of sustainable energy in that time. And a great achievement, which does not alter the fact that on March 8 (the equivalent) we had already used up our sustainable energy for this year: Green Energy Day.
So let's get to work moving that date, with all the resources we have!
Due to the energy transition, the demand for electricity will increase sharply. Electricity now makes up one fifth of total energy demand. Half of that electricity is now renewable and that share is growing rapidly. At the same time, the transition also ensures rapid growth of, for example, electric transport, heat pumps, electric boilers and green hydrogen. This requires a lot of electricity to replace oil and natural gas.
That electricity sometimes comes in abundance from the sun and wind, but we also need electricity when there is little sun and wind. And don't forget about grid congestion. And of course we also need energy savings and sources of sustainable heat and sustainable fuel.
We can solve part of the electricity challenge by making better use of sun and wind with flexible demand and storage. Better, local combinations of supply and demand also help, as do connections with other countries. But sometimes we really need a central unit that we can simply switch on when necessary. TenneT's security of supply monitor shows that uncertainties will increase from 2025 (next year!). Killing options obviously makes this picture more worrying https://lnkd.in/ebSS4eXQ
Biomass with CO2 storage is a serious candidate to meet that need. Moreover, 'CO2 removal' is crucial for the climate goals, as almost all climate scenarios show. And the higher the ambitions, the more this applies. Sustainable biomass with CCS is an important option, just like bio-based construction, biochemistry and expanding parks and forests.
The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change paints a clear picture for the EU, with 3 flavors of CO2 removal: land use & forests; bioenergy with CO2 storage (BECCS); direct air capture & storage https://t.co/AlAuZwyBND . The table clearly shows that we will already need BECCS substantially in 2030.
There is a lot of social discussion about biomass for energy. The Planning Bureau has made a good analysis of this https://lnkd.in/eHw3A3AK. And being against is easy, but you are also indirectly for something: in this case for heavy use/dependence on gas-fired power stations, in addition to sun and wind (and the nuclear power plant in Borssele).
Regardless of the question of whether that capacity is sufficient: the natural gas we now use in the Netherlands is largely American LNG from shale gas. According to these 170 scientists, this is at least 24% worse for the climate than coal https://lnkd.in/e5bcmn2n. Fortunately, the House of Representatives did not expel the BECCS player. We really need the entire energy transition team to win this competition.
Olof van der Gaag
Chairman of NVDE
Olof van der Gaag has been working at the Dutch Sustainable Energy Association (NVDE) since 2016, first as director and now as chairman. Olof is committed to an energy supply that is completely based on renewable energy by joining forces from the entire sector. Entrepreneurship and social profit go together. The NVDE membership base consists of companies and trade organizations in the sustainable energy sector and these members sit on the committees, elect the board and determine the course of the association.
