Innovative power-to-gas technologies for the energy transition

On the way towards climate neutrality, power-to-gas technologies are essential components. Within the STORE&GO project, researchers from all over Europe successfully implemented different processes for the production of synthetic natural gas (SNG) from renewable electricity. From three pilot plants, SNG was fed into the local natural gas grids or liquefied for use as mobile energy carrier. In addition, the team analyzed economic advantages of power-to-gas (PtG) technologies and developed the corresponding regulatory recommendations. The project results will now be presented at the final conference at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) on February 17 and 18, 2020.

By 2050, Europe is to be turned into the first climate-neutral continent. To reach this long-term objective, it is not sufficient to establish power supply based on renewable resources. Also mobility, heat production, and all other industrial processes will have to be made CO2-neutral. “Even in most optimistic scenarios, the degree of electrification reaches a maximum of 60 percent of energy consumption only. This means that a large fraction of our energy consumption will have to be covered by energy carriers other than electricity, e.g. methane. These energy carriers, however, will be produced in a climate-neutral way,” says Professor Thomas Kolb, Head of KIT’s Engler-Bunte Institute (EBI). “Within the STORE&GO project, we proved on three demonstration sites that the corresponding technologies now are mature and available for wide use.”

Test of Various Reactor Concepts and Regulatory Approaches

Within the STORE&GO EU research project, PtG demonstration plants for the production of SNG from hydrogen were built and operated on the three sites of Falkenhagen (Germany), Solothurn (Switzerland), and Troia (Italy). This hydrogen was produced from renewable electricity by classical electrolysis processes. For methanation, three different types of reactors were applied: Microorganisms, a novel reactor with microstructures, and a KIT-developed honeycomb reactor for scalable series application. As a CO2 source is needed for the conversion of hydrogen into SNG, different concepts were tested, including direct air capture (DAC), where CO2 is directly extracted from ambient air. During the project, all sites produced highly pure SNG that was fed into the local natural gas grids or processed to liquefied gas. Apart from the different conversion concepts, the potential of using PtG technologies in the existing grid were demonstrated. With the gigantic storage capacity of the European gas grid, fluctuations of wind or solar energy production can be balanced.

Apart from technologies, STORE&GO also covered the different regulatory regimes of the three countries and potential market models. “It is not sufficient to just make available a new efficient technology,” says Dr. Frank Graf (EBI), project coordinator of STORE&GO. “We determined production costs of methane from green electricity and developed recommendations as to how and where these technologies can now be used. Aspects of supply security were analyzed as were incentives for private investments in the PtG infrastructure.” To cover all these issues, the STORE&GO consortium consists of a variety of members ranging from research institutions and large industrial companies to innovative small companies.

More information: <

https:/

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STORE_GO_Power-to-Gas_Roadmap.

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Program: Final STORE&GO Conference

On February 17, 2020, from 12.00 to 18.00 hrs and

on February 18, 2020, from 9.00 to 14.00 hrs

at the Engler-Bunte Institute, Campus South of KIT, building 40.50,
Engler-Bunte-Ring 1b.

The conference language will be English.

Monday, February 17, 2020

13.00 hrs Welcome

13.30 hrs STORE&GO: Investigating power-to-gas on EU level

14.00 hrs Three examples for PtG real-life demonstration

15.00 hrs State-of-the-art PtG technologies

16.30 hrs Technology assessment

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

09.00 hrs Integration of PtG in the energy system

10.00 hrs Relevance of PtG for Europe

11.30 hrs The societal impact of PtG

13.00 hrs An outlook for PtG

14.00 hrs Closing remarks

For the program, click:

<

http://ceb.

ebi.

kit.

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download/

STOREandGO_conference_program.

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Information on registration:

Participants can register at <

http://ceb.

ebi.

kit.

edu/

english/

2527.

php

>.

Representatives of the media are requested to register by email to <

[email protected]

>.

More about the KIT Energy Center: <

http://www.

energie.

kit.

edu

>

Press contact: Martin Heidelberger, Redakteur/Pressereferent, Tel.: +49 721 608-21169, <

[email protected]

>

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