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Active load shifting of the electricity demand unlocks a variety of benefits. Examples of such advantages include the increased stability of energy systems, reduced electricity costs and financial savings in the transmission as well as generation infrastructure. Although the technology necessary for demand response has been extensively studied for individual appliances or at the micro-grid level, evaluations of its nationwide impact are scarce. Yet governments and policy-makers require quantitative assessments in order to understand the underlying value and derive appropriate policies. For this purpose, this paper utilizes real-world data from the German-Austrian electricity market in order to calculate ex post the impact of demand response on electricity spot prices and load. As a result, we find that a 25% adoption rate of the available potential for load shifting could have decreased nationwide electricity expenses by approximately €500 million, or 6%, in 2014. At the same time, we observe that the price volatility rises under this scheme and thus impairs non-flexible electricity customers. This observation entails significant implications in terms of designing effective policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Optimization model for the integrated assessment of the green ammonia value chain. • Case study for ammonia trade between Australia and Germany in 2030. • Sensitivity analysis on ammonia prices for technical and economic parameters. • Cost comparison of conventional and green ammonia production. This paper contributes to understanding the transformation of global energy trade to green energy carriers, focusing on green ammonia as the foreseeable first green hydrogen carrier. We provide a comprehensive overview of today's ammonia trade and assess scaling options for the trade of green ammonia. To that aim, we develop an optimization model for the integrated assessment of the green ammonia value chain that covers all steps from green ammonia production in an exporting country, up to delivery to a harbor in an importing country. The model endogenously chooses among different technology options and determines cost minimal operation. In a case study, we apply the model to the large-scale import of ammonia from Australia to Germany in a scenario for 2030. The results show that green ammonia can reach cost parity with gray ammonia even for moderate gas prices (but not necessarily with blue ammonia) if CO 2 prices are high enough. We also provide a sensitivity analysis with respect to the interest rate and other key technical and economic parameters and show that cracking ammonia to provide pure hydrogen comes at a 45 % cost markup per MWh at the destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 1946, the Australian government formalised its attempts to acquire post-war German scientific and technical expertise with the establishment of the Employment of Scientific and Technical Enemy Aliens (ESTEA) scheme. Under this scheme, between 1946 and 1954 some 150 scientists, engineers and technicians were recruited to work in Australia, although several thousand candidates were actually under consideration.Among those who sought employment in Australia under this program was Austrian-born rocket pioneer Eugen Sänger, his long-time colleague and future wife Irene Bredt and several others who had been, to a greater or lesser extent, involved in wartime rocket development in Germany. With the establishment of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project for long-range missile development in 1946 and the opening of the Woomera Rocket Range in 1947, the prospect of enhancing the expertise-base within the Long Range Weapons Establishment by the acquisition of a team of experienced German researchers should have been appealing to the Australian Government: yet the 1949 applications by Sänger and the others were eventually rejected in 1951.This paper will outline the story of the now-forgotten attempts by Sänger and other personnel associated with the German rocket program to migrate to Australia under the ESTEA scheme. It will look at the background and operation of the ESTEA program and consider in detail the case of Sanger et al., examining both the reasons that may have prompted them to apply for work in Australia in the first instance and the possible reasons their ultimate rejection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]