Marco Mensink, director general of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), has claimed that Europe’s renewable energy sector is “not ambitious enough” to supply the vast quantities of carbon free power required to decarbonise the supplies of the largest industry.
“For some reason it’s not really happening yet for large industry,” Mensink told a RE-Source event on corporate renewable energy procurement in Amsterdam. Marco identified policy, infrastructure and pricing as some of the obstacles that need tackling if that is to change.
It is interesting to see that the chemical industry is well aware of the implications to European electricity demand from the chemical industry in a decarbonised future. Their heat and power requirements are vast, and would require strategic planning in grid and renewable energy infrastructure. Marco informed the event attendees that the sheer quantity of power required to shift his members’ chemical plants from processes based on fossil fuels to decarbonised processes using zero-carbon electricity and green hydrogen “requires more than removing a few barriers.”
“You’re not ambitious enough. If we want to meet the net [climate] neutral agenda, we’re going to need three and a half times the current German electricity demand extra in renewables. Three and a half times Germany for a hydrogen and electricity-based chemical industry.”
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