Kupferverband: Despite alert level – gas supply must be ensured No energy transition without copper

Germany`s Minister of Economics, Habeck, has declared the second stage of the gas emergency plan. Even if there is still enough gas, precautions must be taken now so that the emergency does not occur. In the event of a “gas shortage” in winter, large industrial consumers are to be the first to reduce or completely stop their gas consumption. Alexander Dehnelt, Chairman of the Board of the Kupferverband, says: “These measures carry the risk of a profound economic crisis, which would also affect, for example, the major customer sectors of the copper industry such as car manufacturers or mechanical engineering.”

The consequences would not only be production losses and disrupted supply chains, but a concrete threat to let Germany run into an economic recession, Dehnelt continues. “Due to their wide range of applications, copper materials have an important function for many industries in the manufacturing process or even as a product component. Due to the overall economic impact, we as the copper industry clearly count ourselves among the system-relevant industries in Germany. A reduction in copper production definitely has an impact on the production of consumer products and capital goods.”

Renewable energies need copper

Another point: the expansion of renewable energies is repeatedly mentioned as a key element in making Germany independent of gas. “As an important component of the mobility and energy turnaround, copper materials contribute significantly to making renewable energies possible in the first place,” Michael Sander, Managing Director of Kupferverband, further explains the impact of production losses in the copper industry. “How are we going to expand renewables if we don’t have the appropriate materials and materials?”

Production must be secured

From a technical point of view, an insufficient gas supply or a switch to alternative energies is also problematic: when semi-finished products and products made of copper materials are manufactured, they go through numerous thermal processes in order to optimally adjust the product properties to close tolerances according to customer specifications. And at the moment the copper industry – like many other industries, by the way – sees few opportunities to switch to alternative energy sources in the production process, e.g. of semi-finished copper products, in the short term, simply because the technical possibilities are not (yet) available.

Dehnelt concludes: “As an energy-intensive industry, the copper industry is dependent on a reliable and sustainable energy supply. Because this is the only way to ensure that production capacities can be maintained.”