Transformation of Europe's energy-intensive industry sites

Mitigating climate change requires great efforts, especially in the energy transition. The industrial sector is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases and a rapid and economic industrial transformation is urgently needed. The political climate targets to be climate-neutral in Europe by 2050 have been adopted, but the implementation and the path to achieve this is highly uncertain and the industry is facing major challenges. Since a successful industrial transformation requires precise strategic planning and the security of economic access to enormous amounts of climate-neutral energy sources, this dissertation examines the current structure of energy-intensive industries and their possibilities to switch to production based on green hydrogen. The spatial distribution and age structure of today's plant parks are central to this in order to estimate the spatial and temporal demand and to prepare strategic energy planning accordingly.