Germany’s dependence on Russian gas shows how bad its policies are. The search for new ideas is in full swing. This could help these businesses.
Robert Habeck, Germany’s Green Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, has looked like a man on a mission since gas supplies from Russia looked like they were going to run out soon. Putin’s latest threat to demand money in rubles again shows how dangerous it is to do business with tyrants, and this isn’t the first time.
It says that many foreigners are surprised at how much energy comes from Russia to Germany. Many people in the United States are surprised by Habeck’s statement that gas could be rationed in the future – and in such a big country like the United States. Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote a column for the New York Times that said, “It should never have come to this.”
Alternatives are now very important
People are now making decisions that they couldn’t have thought of before the Ukraine war. For example, the German government agreed to an energy deal with Qatar, a country that has been in the news for how it treats people since the World Cup was chosen.
Fracking, another topic that was banned in Germany for years because it was bad for the environment, could also come back. To get natural gas and crude oil from rock layers that are very deep, fracks use water, sand, and chemicals.
Besides the huge costs, this would make the idea of phasing out nuclear power in Germany seem like a joke because it wouldn’t make sense at all.
This is the time when renewable energy comes into play
Especially for the sake of the environment, the energy crisis could lead to the growth of renewable energy sources. When it comes to photovoltaics, for example, Statista says that 8.8% of the electricity generated last year came from solar energy. Since 2003, the statistics portal has seen a steady rise in the amount of solar energy in the energy mix.
Some businesses, like SMA Solar Technology AG, might be able to get a boost from this. There is a company in Niestetal, in northern Hesse, that makes inverters for photovoltaic systems that are sold all over the world. It says that in fiscal year 2021, sales were €984 million (in 2020, they were €1,027 million). During the year 2021, 13.6 GW of inverter power was sold (2020: 14.4 GW).
“It was a big problem for SMA’s business in 2021 because of the chip shortage, which got even worse in the second half of the year. As a European manufacturer, we were especially hurt by this because the electronic parts suppliers are mostly in the United States and the factories that make them are in China, which is where we live. Accordingly, customers in these areas get the best service “Managing Board Spokesman Jürgen Reinert says this to explain why the SMA’s results have dropped from last year.
However, the company thinks it is in a good place: “Other than that, coneva, one of our subsidiaries, has provided DHL with a new way to load electric cars that is both efficient and automated. In the field of storage, we have been chosen to supply the world’s largest grid-forming storage power plant in Torrens Island, Australia. In the field of green hydrogen generation, we have worked with SMA Systemtechnik to process direct current for electrolysis in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia “Reinert is still working on the project and will keep going.
LNG is a type of natural gas that is very popular.
Liquid natural gas could also be used more often to break away from Russian gas, which is why it’s being talked about. It’s not yet possible for tankers to dock in Germany, though. The German government has already set aside 1.5 billion euros to buy LNG. Building LNG terminals quickly is also planned for the future. This will allow Germany to get the liquefied gas from other countries without having to send it through pipelines first.
An important company in this field is Cheniere Energy, which is based in the United States. Between the states of Texas and Louisiana, the energy company runs the Sabine Pass liquefied natural gas terminal that stores gas. As many states work to cut their dependence on Russian gas, the company has been getting a lot of help. Cheniere Energy is now thought to be the world’s biggest LNG exporter. It’s possible that the company will make up to $1.8 billion more this year, says Morningstar equity analyst Stephen Ellis, who writes about the company for the financial magazine Capital. The share price has recently gone up a lot, which is in line with these good things.
In the long run, hydrogen is a good idea
Some transportation companies in Cologne, Wuppertal, and Weimar already use hydrogen buses, and they get help from the EU and from the federal and state governments. It is thought that hydrogen will be the fuel of the future, which could also make people less reliant on Russian energy.
Eon, an energy company in Germany, is working with an Australian company called Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) to bring a lot of green hydrogen from Australia to Germany and the rest of the world. By 2030, it should be possible to bring in up to five million tons of the fuel each year. The partnership shows that Eon and FFI both want to help Europe become less carbon-based and make green energy more reliable at a time when Europe needs to cut its energy dependence on Russia as quickly as possible. Eon says that if Germany made five million tons of hydrogen from renewable sources every year, that would be about one-third of the heating energy it gets from Russia.
Hydrogen is an important part of Linde, a company that makes industrial gas. According to the company, the quarterly dividend is set to rise by 10% to 1.17 US dollars per share. Besides that, the gases group also decided to do a share buyback program of up to ten billion US dollars more. This is supposed to cut down on the company’s share capital. They want to buy back their own shares by July 2024 and give any extra money to shareholders. As of now, the five billion dollar buyback program has already been finished.
