FDP on climate and energy

The FDP wants to prevent gas and electricity shortages and to safeguard existing power plant sites in Hesse through planning. It expects coal and gas plants slated for closure to keep running for the time being. Energy policy should be technology-neutral and make greater use of domestic energy sources.

The FDP wants the power in Hesse never to go out. Power plant sites should be kept. Coal and gas plants should keep running for now. Later they should switch to climate-friendly technology. Energy should also be saved.

The program calls dispatchable power plants indispensable for a stable electricity supply and highlights the Staudinger plant in Großkrotzenburg. The FDP wants to support converting plants to climate-friendly generation. Dependence on individual suppliers should fall, and there should be no extraction bans or bans on individual technologies if products made with them may be imported. State programs for saving energy and efficiency should grow significantly, with tailored solutions for large consumers. Without a secure and affordable supply, the party sees the industrial base and many jobs at risk.

The FDP wants to introduce a dedicated state law on hydrogen. It would promote the use of hydrogen without favoring particular methods and the build-out of the needed infrastructure. In the party's view, hydrogen secures both energy supply and climate goals.

Hydrogen is a gas that can supply energy. The FDP wants to make a new law for it. The law would support pipelines and facilities for hydrogen. Hesse should be connected to the major hydrogen pipelines.

According to the program, hydrogen can be used in industry, transport, and electricity and heat supply. The FDP considers a strong connection to the emerging national and European long-distance pipelines necessary because Hesse's economy and climate protection would otherwise fall behind. The law would support everything that speeds up the build-up of a hydrogen economy in the state. The program says Hesse's businesses are ready for this.

The FDP wants to keep expanding renewable energy, especially biomass, biogas and solar. Power grids should grow quickly, including the north-south lines Ultranet and SuedLink and the local distribution grids. Hesse should remain a single electricity price zone.

The FDP wants more power from the sun, biomass and biogas. Solar panels should also go on parking lots and along highways. Power lines should be built faster. The same electricity price should apply across Hesse.

For photovoltaics, the program names not only rooftops but also open land, covered parking lots, noise barriers, strips along highways and rail lines, and agri-PV. For wind energy, the FDP sees the greatest potential offshore and points to the federal focus on the North Sea and Baltic Sea. When routes for transmission lines are set, the interests of those affected should be taken into account. For distribution grids, Hesse should press at the federal level for better investment conditions and remove regional obstacles. The party views plans to split the state into price zones under new electricity market rules critically.

The FDP wants to increase support for energy research in Hesse. The state should share in the funding for hydrogen technologies and e-fuels that has so far bypassed Hesse. Research on nuclear fusion should also be supported.

The FDP wants more energy research in Hesse. Hesse should get more funding for hydrogen projects. Nuclear fusion should also be studied. That is a new way to produce energy.

The program points to the IPCEI projects, for which the federal government provides more than five billion euros for hydrogen technologies and e-fuels, with around nine billion euros in private investment on top. According to the FDP, this money has not reached Hesse so far, which it wants to change. On nuclear fusion, it highlights the Technical University of Darmstadt and companies around it. The party sees great long-term potential in fusion for a climate-neutral and affordable energy supply.

The FDP relies on the EU Emissions Trading System and market-based tools for climate protection and rejects national targets for individual sectors. The state's climate measures are to be reviewed for effectiveness and cost, with the cheapest carried out first.

The FDP wants to protect the climate through emissions trading. Companies must buy rights for the greenhouse gases they emit. The FDP is critical of fixed targets for single sectors. The state should first do what costs little and helps a lot.

In the FDP's view, only the total amount of emissions matters; where and how cuts are made should depend on technology and cost-effectiveness. As an example, the platform cites using waste heat from data centers to heat buildings. All state funding programs and climate measures are to be evaluated by their effect in greenhouse gases avoided or absorbed. Municipalities are to get guidance, and climate balance calculators should account for gross emissions and show the CO2 savings that specific measures can achieve locally.

The FDP regards adapting to climate change as a task for the state and municipalities because it requires local knowledge. Adaptation measures for public spaces are to be planned and budgeted for, and private precautions are to be supported as well.

The climate is changing. The FDP wants Hesse to prepare for this. The state and towns should make plans and set money aside. Private homeowners should get help too, for example to protect against heavy rain.

The platform argues that the Paris Agreement only limits warming even in the best case. For the private sector it mentions infiltration areas and shading of buildings and grounds to protect groundwater and slow the heating of cities. Protecting buildings against heavy rain is to be included in funding programs, where the FDP says it has been missing so far.

The FDP wants to make Hesse the leading location for aviation fuels produced in a carbon-neutral way using the power-to-liquid process. Frankfurt Airport is to become carbon-neutral as early as possible, and kerosene-powered auxiliary turbines are to be banned on the ground at Hessian airports.

Planes will need liquid fuel for a long time. The FDP wants this fuel to be made artificially without extra CO2. Hesse should lead in research on this. Frankfurt Airport should become carbon-neutral soon.

The technology for making fuel from CO2 and hydrogen is to be developed so that industrial production at competitive prices becomes possible. The FDP wants to speed up permitting and funding programs for converting Frankfurt Airport, working together with the federal government. Links between air and rail travel with a seamless travel chain are to be expanded. Parked aircraft are to be supplied by electric air-conditioning units (PCA) running on renewable energy instead of using auxiliary power units (APU).

The FDP does not want to prescribe a heating technology. Existing oil and gas heating systems should be combinable with renewable heat sources such as heat pumps and later run on biofuels or synthetic fuels; the existing infrastructure is therefore to be kept.

The FDP wants people to choose their own heating. Old oil and gas heaters should be able to work together with a heat pump. Later they should run on climate-neutral fuels. That is why the pipes and systems should stay.

The platform sees major potential for cutting CO2 in existing buildings by integrating renewable heat generators into current heating systems and wants to advance this. As a next step, advanced biofuels or synthetic fuels made with power-to-X are to be used. In the FDP's view, this also gives buildings with oil or gas heating a path to climate neutrality.