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Biomethane

With Uniper, companies can significantly reduce their carbon footprint and source renewable energy from biomethane for a greener and more climate-friendly energy portfolio.

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Cogeneration and combined heat and power plants

Simply generating energy where it is also consumed and doing so as efficiently as possible - this principle of decentralized energy supply is a main element of a successful energy transition and significantly reduces emissions of climate-damaging CO2 emissions. Special attention is paid to highly efficient combined heat and power plants (CHP), which use combined heat and power technology to simultaneously generate electricity and heat or cooling. This energy, which is generated on site, is then used for production in the immediate vicinity of companies, for example, or as heating energy in commercial and private properties, or even for the permanent cooling of production processes and larger facilities.

In this blog post, Uniper explains the advantages of a decentralized energy supply with combined heat and power plants and why industrial customers, municipal utilities and regional energy suppliers thereby make a sustainable contribution to climate protection.

How to recognize reputable electricity providers

What applies to private consumption is also becoming common practice for B2B customers: more and more companies are choosing their commercial electricity provider solely on the basis of the cheapest price. However, a commercial electricity that appears cheap at first glance can turn out to be an expensive solution in the long run, because there are also "black sheeps" among commercial electricity providers in Germany.

Electricity prices for trading and industrial corporations

Electricity prices can vary greatly. For example, special regulations apply to certain companies and industries with regard to grid charges, levies and taxes. However, these are based on company characteristics such as annual electricity consumption, which can only be changed with great effort, if at all.

Market area merger in Germany

The Gas Network Access Ordinance, which was amended in 2017, got the ball rolling. The German transmission companies and the companies responsible for the two German gas market areas, GASPOOL Balancing Services and NetConnect Germany (NCG), were obliged to create a joint market area by 2022 at the latest. Currently, the two existing market areas connect 15 transmission networks with around 750 outgoing networks.

Solutions for overproduced green electricity

As early as 2000, the introduction of the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) in Germany created the conditions for a sustainable energy turnaround and has been further developed in several stages to date. As a result, the share of renewable energies, especially from wind power and photovoltaics, in the nationwide electricity mix has risen continuously almost 50 percent currently. Within the framework of the 2030 climate protection goals, it is to be expanded to at least to 65 percent. However, as the generation capacities of wind and solar energy continue to increase, it will become increasingly important in the future to effectively compensate for their fluctuations due to weather conditions in order to ensure grid stability and supply. New methods of energy storage will play an important role in this. These include power-to-gas technology (PtG), with which generated electricity can be converted into synthetic natural gas and thus fed into the existing gas grid as well as stored. In this article, you will learn why Uniper is already one of the leading companies in the field of power-to-gas and why its expansion can become an important component of the energy transition, both ecologically and economically.

Climate-friendly power plants and security of supply

One of the climate goals in Germany is to increase the share of renewable energies in the electricity mix from currently around 45 to at least 65 percent by 2030. But how do we achieve this goal while simultaneously phasing out nuclear power and coal without jeopardising the existing security of supply? First and foremost, through further expansion of renewable energy, especially wind power and photovoltaics. But this alone will not be enough. On the way to a green energy future, existing conventional generation capacities such as gas and hydropower plants will therefore inevitably gain in importance. Here, energy can be generated at any time in line with demand, stored proportionally and fed flexibly into the grid in order to ensure a stable supply even during demand peaks being able to compensate for grid fluctuations. This article explains how Uniper, as one of Europe's largest energy producers, is successfully shaping the energy transition in Germany with its climate-friendly power plant fleet, and how companies can already benefit from emission-free energy.

Energy policy initiatives in Germany

On 1 January 2019, the new Energy Collection Act (EnSaG) came into force in Germany. It includes numerous energy-related laws and ordinances, above all important amendments to the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), the Combined Heat and Power Act (KWKG) and the Energy Industry Act (EnWG). The amendments are intended to ensure planning and legal certainty in the expansion of renewable energies and to help achieve the current climate protection goals. Companies that generate and consume electricity themselves via CHP plants or photovoltaics are particularly affected.

Energy storage and pumped storage hydro power plants

The energy transition is in full swing and is already having a significant impact on our energy supply. For example, the share of renewable energies in the German electricity mix rose above 40 percent for the first time in 2018 and the increase to 50 percent is imminent.
The steady expansion of renewable energies also poses new challenges for our grid infrastructure. The more electricity is generated and fed into the grid, especially by wind power and photovoltaics, the greater the fluctuations within the grids will become, as neither of them can supply permanently constant amounts of energy due to their natural dependencies. Balancing storage technologies are needed here to ensure grid stability. This is currently inconceivable without pumped storage power plants. In this article, you will learn how and why these hydropower plants are the cornerstones of a sustainable energy transition and how companies can benefit from green energy from hydropower.

Energy market of the future

The topics of climate protection and energy transition have been moving the public and political discussions not only since "Fridays for Future". Consequently, the trend of "green energy products" dominates modern energy procurement. For many companies, a sustainable energy supply is part of their corporate strategy and in this context an important image factor. But what does this mean for security of supply? And how can companies switch from a conventional energy supply to renewable energies?

Explained: grid usage fees

Just as with the electricity price for private consumers, various levies and taxes also influence the final price to be paid for commercial and industrial electricity. Part of these costs are the so-called grid usage fees. These are charges levied by the electricity grid operators for the use of their electricity grids. But what exactly do grid usage fees stand for? Who has to pay them? And what special regulations apply to companies?

Fuel Emissions Trading Act (Brennstoffemissionshandelsgesetz) to promote climate protection in Germany

Certificate trading up, emissions down - this is how the central idea of the Fuel Emissions Trading Act, or BEHG in Germany, which came into force at the beginning of the year, can be summarized. For the German government, this is a key lever for success in achieving the politically agreed climate protection targets by 2030, in which greenhouse gas emissions from combustion of fossil fuels such as oil, petrol, coal, natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas are to be reduced by up to 55 percent across all sectors (industry, commerce, transport and buildings) compared to the reference year 1990.

Low-emission power generation with natural gas

Germany has set itself ambitious climate protection goals: by 2020, annual greenhouse gas emissions are to be reduced by 40 percent compared to 1990. At the same time, the share of renewable energies in energy consumption is to be increased by 40 to 45 percent by 2025. Today, however, only about 38 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources (gross electricity generation). The rest of the electricity generation still comes mainly from high-emission energy sources. But it doesn't have to be this way. This article explains why natural gas is a key factor in reducing emissions and how gas-fired power plants can contribute to securing a sustainable energy supply.

Benefiting from Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs)

Under the current political and economic conditions, long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) for green electricity are becoming increasingly important. These usually have a timeframe of 5-15 years and thus offer good long-term opportunities to continue operating existing plants economically or to build new plants. The focus is primarily on offshore and onshore wind power and photovoltaic assets. If electricity is generated exclusively from green sources, these are also known as green PPAs.

Sustainability - green energy vs. "normal energy

Green energy products are becoming increasingly popular. In industry and commerce as well as with regional energy providers and municipal utilities, the demand for energy from renewable generation continues to rise unabated. Many companies are considering switching to green electricity. But before they do, important questions arise: Is a sustainable energy supply really better than conventional electricity? Do companies have to expect high costs if they opt for sustainability when it comes to energy?

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