"Europe has woken up to the geopolitical upheavals," states Thorsten Rixmann, Chief Marketing Officer of the Obrist Group. In the wake of the reorientation toward greater European self-sufficiency, competitiveness, and sovereignty on a global scale, it is high time to place the energy supply on an independent global foundation, says the Marketing Director of the German-Austrian industrial group. He sees the transition of the European energy supply to a globally organized methanol economy as a "huge opportunity" for Europe.
Thorsten Rixmann analyzes: "Sun and wind alone do not produce a baseload energy supply. Nuclear power is controversial and expensive. Europe is dependent on imports for oil, coal, and gas, quite apart from the fact that a shift away from fossil fuels is necessary for climate protection. A global methanol economy, built and operated by Europe, is therefore the best way to supply Europe with baseload, competitive, and sustainable energy." He speaks of a "combination of the best of all worlds": Methanol can be produced from solar energy, but unlike hydrogen, for example, is normally liquid like oil and can therefore be transported via existing global infrastructure such as pipelines, tankers, and tank trucks. The disadvantage: The solar radiation intensity within Europe is not sufficient to make methanol production economically viable; this must take place in the Earth's sunbelt, closer to the equator.
Worldwide Gigaplants under European leadership
As a solution to this "dilemma," Thorsten Rixmann cites the Obrist Group's Gigaplant concept, which is currently developed to industrial series production and ready for use. The proposal: Under EU leadership, methanol production facilities will be cooperatively built and operated on a large scale in countries in Africa and the Middle East where solar intensity is sufficiently high. The methanol produced there will not only serve as a reliable energy supply for Europe, but can also be made available to other countries.
Such an initiative would also benefit the cooperating countries beyond Europe, emphasizes the Obrist manager. He paints a picture of a flourishing economy in African countries, which, thanks to gigaplants, can develop into a center of the global energy supply. Methanol production would enable countries in the Middle East to gradually transition away from oil production. "Oil will eventually run out, the sun shines forever," Thorsten Rixmann says, outlining the long-term prospects for the Middle Eastern states.
The Obrist Group's Marketing Director emphasizes: "Europe has a historic opportunity to play a key role in global energy supply. To achieve this, it is necessary to quickly conclude appropriate agreements with partner countries and invest in a global methanol production infrastructure. This would be an important step on the path to greater self-sufficiency, competitiveness, and sovereignty for Europe."
The Gigaplant concept at a glance
Gigaplants are a type of giant solar farm that doesn't produce electricity, but rather sustainably produced methanol. During production, more climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2) is removed from the atmosphere than is released during subsequent use. According to Obrist's proposal, a gigaplant would produce almost four million tons of methanol per year.
Due to the high solar intensity, solar power is available in the targeted regions for just 0.88 cents per kilowatt-hour. These so-called levelized costs for converting another form of energy into electricity range from three to over five cents for conventional solar farms, between just under four cents (onshore) and about twelve cents (offshore) for wind turbines, between seven and 17 cents for biomass, between just under eight and 13 cents for natural gas, between ten and 20 cents for hard coal and lignite, and between 3.5 and eight cents per kilowatt-hour for nuclear power. "The Obrist concept therefore generates electricity at less than a third of the cost of the cheapest alternative process," summarizes Thorsten Rixmann.
However, since electricity is difficult to store on a large scale and even more difficult to transport, it is "only" used in the Gigaplant for electrolysis, to produce hydrogen from water in the first step and then methanol from this in the second step. The water required for methanol production is taken from the ambient air; a humidity of just ten percent is sufficient, which is found even in the desert. The Gigaplants can therefore be built in deserts or other wasteland that could not be used for other purposes anyway. This keeps costs low and avoids conflicts with settlement projects or agriculture. The Obrist Group estimates the cost of liquid methanol produced using solar energy and "desert water" at less than six cents per kilowatt-hour, far less than any other known energy source.
Security and returns for Europe
"The construction of such an energy infrastructure would require the EU to engage in close diplomacy to reach agreements with countries located close to the equator," admits Thorsten Rixmann, "but ultimately, these are primarily economic policy measures that benefit these states as well as European countries." The EU would have to provide the start-up funding for a global methanol economy, says the Obrist manager, adding: "The investment would pay for itself within a few years." He calculates: The construction costs for a gigaplant are estimated at 18.6 billion euros. This produces just under four million tons of methanol per year, which, at today's energy prices, corresponds to sales of approximately 4.3 billion US dollars. With annual operating costs of around 340 million dollars, this results in a gross profit of almost four billion dollars.
"The construction costs would be recouped in less than five years, corresponding to an annual return of over 21 percent," explains Thorsten Rixmann. He says: "This would make the construction of a Gigaplant infrastructure not only a huge strategic step forward for Europe, but would also generate one of the best returns for European taxpayers' money." At the same time, this approach would truly make Europe a pioneer in climate protection: Each Gigaplant removes more than 6.2 million tons of net carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere annually. The climate also benefits from the more than 6.5 million tons of oxygen released into the atmosphere each year during methanol production.
According to calculations by the Obrist Group, around 3,000 gigaplants would be needed to completely replace the use of fossil fuels with methanol. The total cost of building these clean energy factories would be nearly $50 trillion. "This is a major goal that could be achieved step by step," says Thorsten Rixmann. He notes: "The current global situation would be a good reason for the European Union to quickly take the first step and launch two or three gigaplants in various countries. A secure and economical energy supply would significantly increase Europe's resilience and competitiveness and contribute to securing the sustainable prosperity of the European population."
Obrist Group: Founded by inventor and entrepreneur Frank Obrist, the Obrist Group focuses on innovations for global, sustainable, and CO2-reducing energy concepts. The spectrum ranges from the worldwide supply of renewable energies and atmospheric fuels (aFuels) to innovative CO2-negative (i.e., climate-positive!) drive concepts for the automotive industry. The Obrist Group currently holds 252 registered and 128 granted patents worldwide, making it one of the most important global innovators in the field of sustainable energy concepts.