The German Society for Solar Energy Warns against CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS)

The German Society for Solar Energy (DGS) has expressed concern about the decision of the Federal Ministry of Economics to pave the way for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). Unlike renewable energy associations, the DGS sees CCS as a misguided technology that could hinder industry's efforts towards climate neutrality.

The DGS appeals to coalition partners and the opposition to focus on ending all subsidies for fossil fuels instead of enabling the storage of carbon dioxide for industrial plants. Torsten Lütten, President of the DGS, emphasizes the need to dismantle barriers to the expansion of renewable energies instead of facilitating the carbon dioxide storage for industrial facilities.

"The Efforts of Industry Would Diminish with CCS"

There is no doubt that certain energy-intensive industries face significant challenges in reducing their toxic emissions to zero, considering the well-known consequences they impose on us and the world. They have had decades to address this issue, yet they have not done so. If the Minister of Economics now proposes to continue producing toxic emissions with the hope of storing them in a repository elsewhere in the future, he is essentially perpetuating the problem of the past decades.

"It is foreseeable that the efforts of industry to reduce CO2 emissions will lose momentum once a profitable storage of their greenhouse gases is made possible," says Lütten. "There are currently no affordable and scalable technologies for CO2 storage, let alone safe sites. Everything would need to be developed in the future."

Furthermore, this would require additional resources and fossil fuels. "This calculation cannot and will not work, and the Minister should be aware of that," says the DGS President. "Real solutions exist. Why are they not mandatory? Alternative building materials, affordable electricity from photovoltaics, process heat from solar thermal at stable costs for 30 years, large-scale electricity and heat storage – all of this is readily available."

Unlike the DGS, the associations representing the solar and wind energy industry, BSW and BWE, have declined to comment on the issue in response to an inquiry from Solarthemen. However, even the draft guidelines provide for the possibility of CCS in electricity generation under certain conditions. Solarthemen has extensively covered this topic.

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