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00:00:06more air conditioners, more data centers, more electric
00:00:10cars, around the world, we're using more and more
00:00:13electricity,
00:00:15but there's good news, wind and solar power are stepping up to
00:00:19meet that demand, less fossil fuels, more
00:00:22renewables, the green energy transition is
00:00:25underway, and scientists are working on something even
00:00:28bigger, nuclear... Fusion, it's a potential game changer,
00:00:32unlimited energy emission
00:00:34free.
00:00:37Join us for electrifying insights on this edition of
00:00:47sun? What does a blowpipe have to do with a
00:00:50furnace, and what happened on May 22nd,
00:00:532025. A really exciting day here at the
00:00:57Institute. It was top not.
00:01:01but first things first, let's start with our
00:01:04everburning star and a question: can the suns
00:01:08fusion process be replicated to produce energy here on
00:01:11earth? scientists have been trying and failing to
00:01:15achieve this for decades.
00:01:18we still don't have commercial fusion reactors, but we do have
00:01:22research facilities like Wendelstein 7x in
00:01:26northeast Germany. it was purpose built to develop a stellar.
00:01:32lot today, they are not afraid of
00:02:16we feed in hydrogen gas which is ionized by heater
00:02:20and turned into a
00:02:21plasma.
00:02:24here's how it works: inside the machine is vacuum
00:02:28chamber shaped like twisted.
00:02:31I buy here. Retinal surgery and yellow donut: normally, a tiny amount of hydrogen
00:02:34enters as a gas through a valve and is heated to extreme
00:02:38temperatures.
00:02:41microwaves then strike the hydrogen atoms,
00:02:44ionizing them and transforming the gas into a plasma,
00:02:48heated to tens of millions of degrees
00:02:50celsius. the plasma discharge then stayed at
00:02:54those temperatures for a record breaking 43
00:02:57seconds.
00:04:00generated by a complex array of magnets.
00:04:04They keep the plasma from touching the chamber walls because
00:04:08contact would cool it down instantly.
00:04:11Designing the W7X magnet configuration required
00:04:14supercomputers and years of
00:04:16planning.
00:04:18So, when can we expect the first Fusion Reactor to go
00:04:22online?
00:04:25A conservative estimate says sometime in the second half of the
00:04:29century. 2060 or 2070, something like
00:04:32that, but it's pointless to speculate, because
00:04:36we could also take a much bolder unconventional approach. in
00:04:39fact, many startups are doing that.
00:04:43there are now about 50 fusion startups worldwide, taking a
00:04:47variety of approaches. they're
00:04:49aiming for success in the 2030s, which is practically
00:04:52tomorrow. but whether it will be the 2030s or the
00:04:552070s is something that no one can say for
00:04:58sure.
00:05:05feel proud that we are taking action in
00:05:12back and chasing new
00:05:14records.
00:05:19Did you know that nuclear fishion, the process behind nuclear power
00:05:22today, is considered more dangerous than nuclear
00:05:26fusion. Fishing accidents can release massive
00:05:29amounts of radioactive material, as happened in
00:05:32Fukushima and Chernoble.
00:05:35Fusion is safer, and doesn't produce high-level radioactive
00:05:38waste that must be stored safely for millennia.
00:05:42Finland is betting a future powered by nuclear
00:05:45fishion.
00:05:50The Olkiluato peninsula on Finland's west coast
00:05:53is one of the country's most important energy
00:05:56hubs. It's home to three nuclear reactor
00:05:59units. The newest one went into commercial operation in
00:06:032023. The turbine hall is where the massive generators
00:06:07are located. They're driven by heat from the reactor, which is
00:06:11how the electricity is.
00:06:28The facility covers about 14% of Finland's electricity production. The company's press officer says public concerns were
00:06:31minimal. We have been measuring for 40 years
00:06:34this what people fear and what what how do they like
00:06:38nuclear power and they they r like?
00:06:44the waste, it's not a major concern
00:06:48anymore, we have solution here in alkalo, so the
00:06:51support for nuclear is good in every
00:06:55party, but there were some problems here
00:06:58too, construction was supposed to last from 2005 to
00:07:022009, but in the end it took 14 additional
00:07:06years. the project was plagued with delays including loose
00:07:10parts in the turbine and issues with the... instrumentation and control
00:07:14system after multiple repairs, the final cost had
00:07:1711 billion euros, about four times the original
00:07:20budget, so we were we were pioneers, so there was
00:07:24a long break that nobody was building here in western
00:07:28Europe nuclear power,
00:07:30so the readiness to build was not
00:07:34very good, and also the power plant was new
00:07:37design and it was
00:07:41uh not... designed in detail level, so
00:07:45plans were changed during the project, but
00:07:48there were no protests over the delays and soaring
00:07:51costs, and now the new plant is delivering
00:07:55electricity to the country. as in
00:07:57France, in Finland, nuclear energy is considered green
00:08:01energy. the operator has proudly called the new
00:08:05reactor Finland's largest climate
00:08:07project.
00:08:11Finland is one of several. European nations investing in nuclear
00:08:14energy, new reactors are underway in
00:08:17France, and Slovakia, while Poland
00:08:20is preparing to build its first commercial nuclear power
00:08:23plant.
00:08:26The question is, what is ultimately the better
00:08:29path. I think that when you look at new build
00:08:32projects today, the cost increases they
00:08:35incur, the long time lines they involve,
00:08:39and if you also look at the economic costs of renewables today. and
00:08:43compare that to investments in new nuclear power plants
00:08:46and other options, then I believe renewables will
00:08:50ultimately have an enormous cost advantage over other
00:08:53concepts.
00:08:56Finland though, has chosen the path of nuclear
00:08:59power. Here, people are convinced that ultimately
00:09:03electricity will be far cheaper with nuclear power than
00:09:06without it. The finish operators don't
00:09:09understand Germany's nuclear phase out. because big
00:09:13country like Germany, very big country, so if
00:09:17you want to reach reach 100% renewables
00:09:20and electricity systems, we haven't seen
00:09:24it yet in a big country, so all the best for the
00:09:27for this challenging effort
00:09:30that uh that you can hopefully
00:09:34do without nuclear b, but our solution
00:09:37is is nuclear and renewables
00:09:40together, defens have also found
00:09:43solution for the nuclear waste.
00:09:46Geologist Johanna Savunan is on our way to the
00:09:49construction site near the power plants. At more
00:09:52than 450 meters below ground, the world's
00:09:56first permanent repository for high-level radioactive
00:09:59waste is taking
00:10:00shape.
00:10:04Underground tunnels will soon store spent fuel rods for thousands of
00:10:07years. The nuclear waste bunker has attracted
00:10:11worldwide attention.
00:10:14I feel proud, I
00:10:18a difficult matter and not just waiting for some
00:10:22others to show the way. feel that this
00:10:25is issue that needs to be solved and i'm i feel proud
00:10:29that Finland is doing exactly that.
00:10:32300 meters long and carved into granite bedrock,
00:10:36the tunnels will one day store highly radioactive nuclear
00:10:39waste. an elevator will bring the copper canisters
00:10:43filled with spent fuel elements down into the
00:10:46repository. each canister will be placed in a
00:10:50hole. the holes and the tunnel will be plugged with
00:10:53bentonite and the tunnel. Finally will be sealed with
00:10:56concrete. the onkalo repository will go
00:11:00online in 2026. the
00:11:02waste will remain here for over 100 thousand years until
00:11:06it is only minimally radioactive.
00:11:09radioactive waste is quite a
00:11:13difficult subject and people don't know lot about
00:11:16it, so people tend to be afraid of something they don't know
00:11:20about.
00:11:22many fins place great trust in the work. their
00:11:25scientists, they believe that nuclear power is
00:11:29the best choice, and that mix of wind power and
00:11:32nuclear energy will secure an emissions free
00:11:35future.
00:11:40Finland, Finland places great value on energy
00:11:43independence, and over the past decades that's worked quite well
00:11:47thanks to their use of nuclear power, so you could
00:11:50say their decisions make sense for them, but you also need to keep in mind that other.
00:13:00By 2030, Germany aims to generate 80%
00:13:03of its electricity from renewables like wind and solar
00:13:07power. A key part of this green energy
00:13:11transition is battery storage. It
00:13:14stores excess energy for later use when demand is high.
00:13:18That helps stabilize the power grid and prevent
00:13:21overloads.
00:13:55for major German energy company, soon he
00:13:58won't just be selling electricity from gas and hard cold power
00:14:01plants, he'll also be buying and storing
00:14:04it.
00:14:07By Spring 2026, new battery system will be running
00:14:10here. It can deliver 50 megaws of
00:14:13electricity about the output of a small gas
00:14:17plant for 4
00:14:18hours.
00:14:21Because it's plugged straight into the grid, the battery can store.
00:14:25surplus renewable power and release it when demand
00:14:28rises, turning those swings into
00:14:30profit.
00:14:34ultimately we're taking a business risk, but we believe
00:14:37flexibility is key for the energy
00:14:39transition.
00:14:42right now it feels like a gold rush. prices on the power
00:14:46exchange fluctuate daily as seen from a July weekly
00:14:49chart. during the day, solar floods the grid
00:14:53and prices drop. In the evening and early morning,
00:14:57fossil plants ramp up and prices rise. Battery
00:15:01storage systems profit from those
00:15:03swings. Think of it like squirrels gathering
00:15:06nuts. We trade every 15 minutes, often the same
00:15:10energy again and again. Sometimes it's
00:15:13just tiny price differences, but over time you scoop up the
00:15:16returns. This business model has been tested for about
00:15:2010 years with a 15 megaw hour pilot
00:15:23system. German. Brid operators have received speculative
00:15:26requests for battery projects totaling 500
00:15:29gigawatts, far above the country's peak demand.
00:15:33If all were built, their combined capacity could, for few hours...
00:15:43match the output of roughly 500 nuclear power plants. with growing flexibility, more storage systems and more
00:15:46colocations, meaning more pairing of renewable plants with on-sight battery
00:15:50storage, the price gaps will gradually disappear,
00:15:53langsam abschmelzen.
00:15:57on April 28th, 2025, Spain and
00:16:00Portugal were hit by a massive blackout. Volters
00:16:04spiked beyond safe limits, shutting down over 20.
00:18:07supply, the big question is, can batteries deliver
00:18:11during the dark duldrums, those long stretches with little sun or
00:18:15wind?
00:18:18battery storage is being put to the test here, what role
00:18:22will they play in tomorrow's energy system? with mega
00:18:25batteries on the rise, do we even need new backup gas
00:18:29plants at
00:18:29all?
00:18:35is a researcher technical university.
00:19:08up to November 1st, wind was strong, but in the following days
00:19:11it dropped.
00:19:14The week winter sun didn't add much,
00:19:18gas plants stepped in with up to 15 gigawatts
00:19:22and coal also ramped up to about 20 gig
00:19:25watts.
00:19:29Two weeks later, the wind
00:19:31returned.
00:19:33Fossil plants scaled back and the dark Doldrums were...
00:20:43Batteries have the edge for short-term energy
00:20:46storage. By contrast, hydrogen
00:20:50can hold huge amounts of energy for months, but
00:20:54producing hydrogen takes a lot of energy,
00:20:57ideally from renewable sources, that's what makes
00:21:01it green hydrogen, and it's being produced in places
00:21:05you might not
00:21:06expect.
00:21:10the fuffenhofen waste water plant does more than treats
00:21:13sewage, it's also hosting an experiment.
00:21:17Andreas hashman and
00:22:51It's still a pilot program, but one day it could
00:22:54supply the region for five days when renewables fall
00:22:58short. Green transition expert Florian
00:23:01Egley likes the idea, but says that even at scale it won't
00:23:05produce enough hydrogen to decarbonize heavy industry like
00:23:09steel production. That's why government and industry are looking to
00:23:12hydrogen from Africa, but Eggly warns against putting too
00:23:16much faith in the
00:23:19plan. We analyze what it costs to produce green hydrogen in
00:23:23Africa for export to Europe. We found it far more
00:23:26expensive than expected, mainly because financing costs are
00:23:30higher than expected. Investment risks in many African
00:23:34countries are greater than for example in
00:23:36Europe. Across 10,300
00:23:40sites in 31 African countries, hydrogen
00:23:43production plants for Europe are in
00:23:45planning.
00:23:48Eg and his team studied them and say only about two.
00:24:20Eggly studies says investment costs are the main reason prices
00:24:24will sore. Interest rates are now much higher than the
00:24:27expected 4 to8%. In Sudan, rates are over
00:24:3126%. These unexpectedly high
00:24:35costs for green hydrogen from Africa could slow Europe's
00:24:38shift to clean energy in heavy industry. And that
00:24:42means sustainability targets won't be met,
00:24:46and that would also hurt Africa.
00:25:20Europe:
00:30:19Good day, dear viewers, you are watching N1
00:30:21Info.
00:30:25The fire on Čvrsnica is still active, Croatia approved the use of two
00:30:29Canadair planes.
00:30:32Miners of the Kakanj brown coal mine in labor disobedience after the repeated
00:30:36suspension of health insurance card
00:30:37certification.
00:30:40Trump threatens the European Union over plans for Canada to become an associate
00:30:44member. The Canadian Prime Minister addressed the European
00:30:46Parliament.
00:30:51The fire that has been active for several days in the area of Blidinje Nature Park
00:30:55flared up again and affected part of the forest. The spread of the fire was aided by strong
00:30:58wind and long.