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Rising temperatures are putting ski resorts under pressure. Can snow cannons keep winter sports alive despite their heavy water and energy use? Plus: the race for white hydrogen, and Russia's nuclear power play.
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00:06A winter wonderland lives and dies by one thing, snow.
00:11And when nature doesn't deliver, the skiers and the local economies that depend on them
00:16are quite literally left high and dry.
00:19That's where snow cannons come in.
00:21They're impressive, but they also devour water and energy.
00:24And since winter tourism is vital to alpine regions,
00:27resorts have little choice but to keep the cannons running.
00:33And here's what else is coming up on our energy-packed show.
00:37Is white hydrogen really a viable energy source?
00:41Are small hydropower plants a smarter alternative to massive dams?
00:47And Russia dominates nuclear diplomacy.
00:51How much risk does this pose globally?
01:07Snow cannons on ski slopes.
01:10In times of climate change, skiing would no longer be possible without them.
01:14There are thousands of them in Europe.
01:17And they can consume a huge amount of electricity.
01:21But are there also environmentally friendly systems?
01:25Can ecological devices help to preserve the white mountain world and even glaciers?
01:32A snow-making system.
01:34It can produce plenty of snow, over 100 cubic meters per day.
01:39Much to the delight of skiers.
01:44It's activated via app and needs water and electricity.
01:48Without the systems, ski slopes could hardly function.
01:52They provide reliable amounts of snow.
01:57Snow is simply no longer guaranteed here all the time.
02:00And thanks to artificial snow-making technology, we can keep the ski season going.
02:07At altitudes of 2,000 to 3,000 meters, a conventional snow cannon can produce only a third of its
02:14usual amount, for the same amount of water and electricity.
02:20A hundred years ago, perfect snow slopes like these didn't exist.
02:25Even here in the Alps of central Switzerland, there have always been periods of thaw in winter.
02:31But even in times of climate change and rising temperatures, mass tourism demands permanent snow for ever larger areas.
02:40Technician Andrew Gamma ensures that the snow-making equipment at the ski resort works at the touch of a button.
02:47This reservoir supplies the 32 snow cannons on the ski slopes with fresh water.
02:52And lakes like this are even good for the environment.
02:55Because they keep in the region water that would otherwise flow into the sea.
03:05We also use the lake as a drinking water reservoir and as a reservoir for the fire department.
03:10And in summer, we also generate electricity with the excess water here.
03:17There are thousands of snow cannons across Europe.
03:20At the start of the season, they all run at the same time and consume as much electricity as a
03:26large city.
03:28So how can we build systems that consume less electricity?
03:31The Swiss company, Bechler, has developed energy-saving snow cannons.
03:36And it can hardly keep up with demand.
03:42We have grown quite a bit in the last two years.
03:47And because we have a lot of demand from abroad, we are simply going from country to country.
03:53The company has around 20 employees.
03:55A system like this can cost around 1 million euros, including water and electrical lines.
04:01That's three times as expensive as a conventional snow cannon.
04:05But it's also three times as effective.
04:07What makes it special is that the water is compressed into molecular particles
04:11and cooled to minus 164 degrees Celsius by the pressure
04:15before being shot out of this nozzle.
04:20One billion snow crystals come out of here every second.
04:25Our journey through Switzerland continues to the 3,000-meter-high Morterage glacier.
04:32Can this mountain world be saved by snow cannons?
04:37We meet glacier researcher Felix Keller, who works with Bechler.
04:44He explains that artificial snow also has advantages.
04:49It keeps water in the region and prevents it from drying out.
04:56He has tested snow ropes here.
04:58The ropes are equipped with snow cannons from the Bechler company,
05:03fed by reservoirs and operated solely by water pressure.
05:08No electricity required.
05:12He explains that he soon wants to scale up the entire project with the help of sponsors.
05:20This enables us to distribute 900 snow nozzles across the glacier using seven snow ropes,
05:26giving us a production capacity of 30,000 tons of snow.
05:34Perhaps even glaciers in the Himalayas could survive climate change this way.
05:42The artificial snow would protect the glacier ice from melting,
05:46before itself becoming meltwater for irrigation in the valley in spring.
05:52The project still needs three million euros in donations.
06:05Next up, white hydrogen, a naturally occurring gas that can be tapped underground much like oil or natural gas.
06:12It's being hailed as a cleaner alternative to the fossil fuels that have damaged the environment for more than a
06:18century.
06:20But are the reserves large enough to matter?
06:23And can they be extracted safely and reliably over the long term?
06:29We are on the hunt for a secret treasure.
06:32Impossible to see or touch.
06:35But it's here.
06:38It is exploring for a new resource which nobody has been producing so far.
06:44The treasure here could be worth millions of dollars.
06:47And if extracted globally, open a whole new chapter in energy generation.
06:53Lots and lots of hydrogen.
06:55Flowing naturally from the earth below us.
07:01We're going deep into this forest in the German state of Bavaria.
07:06Jürgen Kretsch is leading the expedition.
07:08He previously worked in the fossil fuel industry.
07:11Now he's a researcher in geo-energy.
07:14The treasure hunt is pretty straight forward.
07:17Hammer a hole in the ground.
07:18One meter deep.
07:20That's the tough part.
07:22Insert a gas sensor.
07:24All right, let's go.
07:26Connect it to the measuring device.
07:28And wait.
07:30Grudge and his team say they've taken dozens of such measurements in this forest.
07:34In the first sample they took, there was so much hydrogen that the device couldn't display it anymore.
07:39All they know is, it's a lot.
07:41And that could mean they are sitting on a jackpot.
07:44His plan is to source hydrogen five years from now.
07:47It works just like extracting gas or oil.
07:51Find a reservoir.
07:52Drill into it.
07:54Extract.
07:56Hydrogen.
07:56Hydrogen.
07:59Has become the favorite word of many politicians and CEOs.
08:03They say it's the best way to decarbonize industries that need a lot of energy like steel making or heavy
08:10transport.
08:11Right now, most of that energy comes from burning fossil fuels because that provides the high heat that's needed.
08:18So does burning hydrogen.
08:21But instead of CO2 emissions, it leaves behind just water.
08:25Demand for hydrogen is projected to at least triple by 2050.
08:29That's because it's expected to play an important role in helping companies lower their emissions.
08:35The thing is just, so far hydrogen has to be made, which again requires energy.
08:41This graph shows costs and carbon footprints of different kinds of hydrogen.
08:46Grey hydrogen is made by burning natural gas.
08:50Black and brown hydrogen by burning coal.
08:53All these, as you can see, are fairly cheap, but also dirty.
08:57Green hydrogen is made from renewable energy like solar and wind.
09:02But it currently makes up less than 1% of all hydrogen produced, because it costs more to make.
09:08Bottom line, cheap but dirty versus clean but expensive hydrogen.
09:14Gretsch wants to hit the sweet spot.
09:16He says his clean natural hydrogen will be as cheap as hydrogen made with fossil fuels.
09:22Companies mention this figure of around about $1 per kilo, which would essentially make it cost competitive with fossil fuel
09:29alternatives.
09:30Hydrogen is a light gas, so it naturally rises towards the Earth's surface.
09:36It slowly flows through breaks in the planet's crust, mainly caused by the movement of tectonic plates.
09:42Sometimes it creates fires, called eternal flames, because they can burn for centuries.
09:48But most hydrogen is believed to accumulate in some form of underground reservoirs, trapped under layers of solid rock.
09:57Reservoirs like the one Gretsch found in Bavaria are likely hiding all over the world, just waiting to be found
10:02by eager scientists and energy companies.
10:06Dozens of companies are now on the hunt.
10:08They are revisiting some of the places where hydrogen flows have been recorded in the past.
10:13So far, there is only one place in the world, a village in Mali, where natural hydrogen is extracted and
10:19used locally to generate electricity.
10:21Although only small amounts are being extracted per year, the case is often presented as evidence that it is possible
10:28to source natural hydrogen.
10:30And more importantly, that the hydrogen reservoir is continuously filling up again.
10:35The hydrogen still flows with the well at the same pressure as when it opened 13 years ago.
10:41This indicates that white hydrogen reserves can actually replenish themselves.
10:48So these processes that produce natural hydrogen in the subsurface, they are constantly ongoing.
10:54So technically, they are renewable sources.
10:59How much you're producing from that reservoir will dictate whether it is actually renewable on a commercial timescale.
11:07Around 5.6 trillion tons of hydrogen are believed to be stored in the crust of planet Earth.
11:13And although most of that is too deep for us to reach, getting out just 2% would be enough
11:19to cover projected global hydrogen demand for 200 years.
11:23What can make it more expensive is that hydrogen comes out of the ground mixed with other gases like nitrogen,
11:30methane or helium.
11:31It has to be separated and purified.
11:34Another and larger cost factor is transportation.
11:38Hydrogen molecules react with the metal of pipelines, making them brittle.
11:43It's much more mobile than natural gas too.
11:46That's why pipelines for hydrogen are much more robust and expensive.
11:50Apart from a few small investments in startups, the big oil and gas companies are holding back.
11:56Even though they have the money, knowledge and equipment to explore this new resource deep below.
12:03It's what we would expect, that they would sit back and allow the startups to be the pioneers and to
12:10de-risk the industries.
12:12Jürgen Kretsch himself worked as a geologist with oil and gas giant Shell for more than 30 years.
12:17He is critical of the fact that Germany, like most countries, does not yet legally list natural hydrogen as a
12:24natural resource.
12:25This blocks access to government subsidies, drilling permits and scares of investors.
12:31In the US, the Department of Energy goes much further and has announced it will spend 20 million dollars on
12:37researching what is called stimulated hydrogen.
12:41The idea is to speed up how quickly natural hydrogen forms and moves by sending down hot water and fracturing
12:48the rock.
12:49It's like fracking for natural gas.
12:52This way companies could extract more hydrogen closer to the industries that need it.
12:57But it's unclear yet whether the process is worth the cost.
13:02Or how dangerous it is for people and the environment.
13:05For example, it could trigger earthquakes.
13:09Natural hydrogen is far from being the sometimes proclaimed game changer for energy supply.
13:14The big investments, and often lost too, are lacking.
13:17And no large reservoir has been found yet.
13:20Although many are on the hunt.
13:33Water can unleash enormous power and generate vast amounts of energy.
13:38Around the world, huge hydropower plants have produced energy for decades.
13:42But the world is now looking beyond big dams.
13:47New ideas are emerging to harness water differently, from hydrokinetic turbines to more innovative approaches.
13:55Let's take a look.
14:01Imagine standing here next to this reservoir.
14:05Somewhere underneath the water's surface lies the town you used to live in.
14:09When this massive hydropower plant in India was constructed, up to 100,000 people had to pack up their things
14:16and leave.
14:16But what if we could harness the immense power of water without having to build destructive megastructures?
14:23Here are some promising examples.
14:28Let's follow the water, starting with a small creek, following the river downstream and ending at the ocean.
14:35We begin our journey here, where the stream is still quite small.
14:39We find a little side arm, a canal, leading into the stream.
14:44In it sits a whirlpool, generating energy.
14:47This is a vortex power plant.
14:50The idea is simple.
14:52Water flows into a round basin.
14:54This one's about four meters wide.
14:56In the middle there's a small turbine with wide blades.
14:59As the water swirls down like in a bathtub drain, it spins the turbine, which drives a generator.
15:06The result?
15:06Enough electricity for around 15 average European households.
15:10That's not huge, but imagine a couple of these along existing canals or streams, hidden away on the side, powering
15:17nearby homes, farms or public buildings.
15:20Unlike big dams that block migration routes, these small power plants barely disturb the river.
15:27But despite these advantages, there are just about 35 of these power plants in the world.
15:33Because they are less efficient than their bigger cousins, their output is naturally smaller too, given their much smaller size.
15:40So, these plants are best for supplying small communities, factories or mini-grids.
15:47For areas with bigger power needs, they are a hard sell.
15:51But in remote areas with small streams or canals, it could be a smart, cheap, minimally invasive and decentralized solution.
15:59Our next stop, a big river.
16:02Here, the fundamental idea is even simpler.
16:05Just float a turbine in the current.
16:07That's the principle behind the Strombuie, or Powerbuie.
16:12Anchored in the flow of the river, the rotor spins as the water pushes past it, turning the kinetic energy
16:18of the river's current into electricity.
16:21The idea is to have dozens of these buoys lined up in a stream, forming a floating power farm in
16:28the river.
16:28So, if this technology proves efficient enough for island nations or river communities, kinetic turbines could eventually become a local
16:37and renewable power source.
16:41Now we've reached the mouth of the river, the place where fresh water meets the sea.
16:46And here is where another interesting hydropower idea is being tested, osmotic energy.
16:53The concept makes use of the different salinity of each water type.
16:58DW visited the world's first osmotic power plant in Norway in 2010.
17:04Let's travel back in time to see how this works.
17:07An osmotic power plant exploits the difference between river water's low salt concentration and the high salinity of seawater to
17:15generate energy.
17:18River water and seawater are separated by a membrane.
17:22The freshwater, shown in green, flows through the membrane to balance the salt concentration and pushes water to the top
17:30on the seawater side.
17:32That osmotic pressure can be used to run a power generating turbine.
17:37Norway really had high hopes for the technology, but announced in 2013 that it would discontinue its efforts and leave
17:45the technology development to other players in the global market.
17:49Today, there are two working osmotic power plants in the world, one in Denmark and one in Fukuoka, Japan.
17:56Neither of them uses the difference between river and seawater.
18:00The Danish project uses the brine from a salt mine.
18:03This brine has a much higher salt concentration than seawater.
18:07The other existing osmotic power plant in Fukuoka in Japan just opened in 2025.
18:13Here, osmosis works its magic using treated wastewater and concentrated brine from a desalination plant to power its turbines.
18:22The goal is to replace the brine altogether in the future and figure out a way to use seawater instead.
18:30Because, well, about 97% of the world's water is seawater.
18:36These three examples show that it's possible to harness the power of water in gentle ways and in certain circumstances.
18:43None of these solutions will replace huge dams tomorrow.
18:46But combined with other technologies, they could add to a clean energy mix and work as decentralized systems, around the
18:54clock and in all seasons.
18:57And maybe that's the real innovation, learning how to work with the flow of rivers instead of against them.
19:09Fossil fuels like oil and gas still dominate the energy mix, but that's starting to shift.
19:16Nuclear energy is also gaining ground again, and Russia is a leading force.
19:21From building new reactors to exporting enriched uranium and signing long-term energy deals, Moscow is shaping the global nuclear
19:30energy landscape.
19:33But what does Russia's power and influence mean for the world?
19:41The world is hungrier than ever for energy.
19:44Rising global demand, made worse by AI and data centers, has put nuclear power back in the spotlight.
19:52But AI is not the only reason.
19:54Our challenge is to deliver on climate change and reduce our CO2 emissions, is to improve our sovereignty by securing
20:03our energy.
20:05The promise of next-gen reactors is also fueling a potential nuclear comeback.
20:10The Russian nuclear program, in a sense, is at the top of its game right now.
20:16In what ways is Russia leading the nuclear energy game? And why does it matter?
20:21Most countries that generate nuclear power have fewer than 10 operational plants.
20:26But the top five nuclear-producing nations have far more.
20:32The US leads the pack with 94 operational plants, followed by China, France, Russia and South Korea.
20:42But these positions are about to change, once all planned and unfinished plants become operational.
20:49According to current data, China is expected to overtake the US, Russia will catch up with France, and India will
20:55enter the top five.
20:57Yet power doesn't lie only in the number of plants a country operates, but also in how many it has
21:03built abroad.
21:04One country is pursuing nuclear projects everywhere, in Europe, Asia and Africa.
21:13The Russians enter this picture ready to do business with these countries on terms which the Russians present as being
21:21neutral politically,
21:25not interfering with the internal affairs of these countries, that will provide Russia with diplomatic influence and access to information
21:36of a strategic nature that these countries have in their decision-making on technology development and energy.
21:45So it's Russia that's really been making moves. Since 2014, when it seized Crimea from Ukraine, Moscow has signed almost
21:5250 memorandums of understanding with other countries,
21:55giving it the largest number of unique MOU partners and the largest overall number of signed MOUs.
22:01The way the Russians do this, they begin a discussion with potential partners that leads to the formation of a
22:12so-called framework agreement for nuclear cooperation.
22:17Among projects led by Russia's state-owned nuclear giant Rosatom, one stands out.
22:23The AccuYu nuclear plant in Mersin, Turkey. Not only is Russia building a nuclear plant in a NATO country, but
22:31AccuYu is also the first to be constructed under a build-own-operate, or BOO model.
22:37This means the Russian side is responsible for financing, constructing, owning, operating and eventually decommissioning the plant, while Turkey agrees
22:44to buy a share of the electricity.
22:48This dependency will last for many decades, because we are talking now about lifetimes of nuclear reactors in the range
22:57of 50, 60 years, maybe even more.
23:01China is also becoming increasingly active in nuclear energy, but with Beijing's main goal being to build economic partnerships, its
23:08approach is different.
23:11I think with Russia, I think it's fairly clear that everything seems to be driven by this geopolitics, by this
23:17need to get as many countries in your camp as you possibly can.
23:21Nuclear politics scholar Chia Yunpo told DW that if China were building these plants rather than Russia, geopolitical risks would
23:29shoot up, especially in Asia.
23:30I think in the short term, Russia won't go down that road to tarnish its own image in these areas
23:37that, especially after the war, most doors have been shut.
23:43If it's China, I think it's very likely that China, Beijing would have a stranglehold over these nuclear power plants,
23:52maybe in the worst case to jeopardize the cooperation and communication between Asian countries.
23:58So I think that's the reason why people have preemptively avoid China's facilities.
24:06Moscow has also been forging nuclear ties in Asia. After talks with Vladimir Putin in 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra
24:14Modi confirmed that Russia would build at least 10 more nuclear reactors in his country.
24:19Chia Yunpo says Asia remains a hugely profitable market for Moscow.
24:39Russia reaps big revenue from nuclear energy. At the end of 2023, Rosatom CEO Alexei Likachev said the company had
24:48around $200 billion in planned orders over the next 10 years.
24:54There's strong pressure in the West to reduce dependence on Russia over energy and geopolitical risks.
25:00But shifting away from Rosatom is tough. The technical and supply chain ties run deep.
25:08Still, some countries are trying. Even allies of Moscow are looking to diversify. Kazakhstan, a former Soviet Republic, is building
25:17its first nuclear station with Rosatom.
25:21But for the second and third plants, it has another partner in mind. One to which it's grown steadily closer.
25:31China.
25:42That's all for our show on the business of energy.
25:45Which sources will shape the future and who stands to benefit?
25:50And how do climate goals fit into the race for innovation and investment?
25:56Thanks for watching and see you soon on the next edition of MADE.
26:00MADE.
26:01MADE.
26:02MADE DO RNA
26:06MADE.
26:07MADE.
26:08You
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