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Germany's energy transition, known as 'Energiewende', was always very progressive. However, it came technically to a halt at the question of large-scale, seasonal energy storage for wind and solar, which was not available. At the end of the 2000s, we combined our knowledge of both electrical and process engineering, imitated nature by copying photosynthesis and developed Power-to-Gas by combining water electrolysis with CO2-methanation to convert water and CO2 together with wind and solar power to synthetic natural gas. Storing green energy by coupling the electricity with the gas sector using its vast TWh-scale storage facility was the solution for the biggest energy problem of our time. This was the first concept that created the term 'sector coupling' or 'sectoral integration'. We first implemented demo sites, presented our work in research, industry and ministries, and applied it in many macroeconomic studies. It was an initial idea that inspired others to rethink electricity as well as eFuels as an energy source and energy carrier. We developed the concept further to include Power-to-Liquid, Power-to-Chemicals and other ways to 'convert' electricity into molecules and climate-neutral feedstocks, and named it 'Power-to-X'at the beginning of the 2010s.
Power-to-Methane as one part of Power-to-Gas has been recognized globally as one of the key elements for the transition towards a sustainable energy system. While plants that produce methane catalytically have been in operation for a long time, biological methanation has just reached industrial pilot scale and near-term commercial application. The growing importance of the biological method is reflected by an increasing number of scientific articles describing novel approaches to improve this technology. However, these studies are difficult to compare because they lack a coherent nomenclature. In this article, we present a comprehensive set of parameters allowing the characterization and comparison of various biological methanation processes. To identify relevant parameters needed for a proper description of this technology, we summarized existing literature and defined system boundaries for Power-to-Methane process steps. On this basis, we derive system parameters providing information on the methanation system, its performance, the biology and cost aspects. As a result, three different standards are provided as a blueprint matrix for use in academia and industry applicable to both, biological and catalytic methanation. Hence, this review attempts to set the standards for a comprehensive description of biological and chemical methanation processes.
Durch das in Paris beschlossene Ziel, die globale mittlere Temperatur auf deutlich unter 2 Grad Celsius gegenüber dem vorindustriellen Niveau zu begrenzen, ist ein Ausstieg aus der Nutzung fossiler Energieträger und Rohstoffe bis zum Jahr 2050 notwendig (WBGU 2016).
Daher hat sich die Bundesregierung das Ziel gesetzt, bis zur Mitte des Jahrhunderts eine weitgehende Treibhausgasneutralität zu erreichen. Hierzu ist neben einer Steigerung der Energieeffizienz in allen Sektoren ein Ausbau erneuerbaren Energien notwendig. Dies beinhaltet hauptsächlich den Zubau von Wind‐ und Solarstromanlagen. Somit gewinnt die Sektorkopplung immer mehr an Bedeutung und wird in Zukunft eine tragende Rolle für die Defossilisierung des Energiesystems spielen (BMUB 2016). Als zentrales Element der Sektorkopplung gilt Strom, der über Power‐to‐X (PtX) sowohl energetisch im Wärme‐, und Verkehrssektor als auch stofflich in der Industrie und vor allem im Chemiesektor eingesetzt werden kann (Ausfelder et al. 2018a). Im Rahmen des P2X‐Vorhabens der Kopernikus Forschungsinitiative wird die Sektorkopplung durch die Umwandlung von Strom mittels elektrochemischer Prozesse in stoffliche Ressourcen wie Wasserstoff, Synthesegas oder Kohlenstoffmonoxid untersucht. Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Betrachtung der Kopplung von Strom und Verkehr sowie Strom und Chemie und der Untersuchung von Prozessen und Pfaden, die aus ökologischer, ökonomischer und gesellschaftlicher Sicht vorteilhaft sind. Eine vergleichende Einordnung in den Gesamtkontext der Energiewende mit Abwägung zahlreicher Alternativen und Konkurrenztechnologien ist dort allerdings nicht vorgesehen. Zudem werden einige relevante PtX‐Technologien wie Power‐to‐Heat nicht betrachtet. Aus diesem Grund wurden in SPIKE ergänzende PtX‐Technologiepfade aus systemanalytischer Sicht untersucht. Dies sind Power‐to‐Heat (PtH) und Power‐to‐Gas (PtG) über Elektrolyse und optionaler anschließender Methanisierung sowie die Herstellung ausgewählter Pfade der strombasierten Herstellung von Produkten der energieintensiven Industrie. Ziel des Forschungsvorhabens war die Analyse von PtX‐Technologien und Pfaden, deren vergleichende Einordnung im Gesamtkontext der Energiewende sowie die Unterstützung des P2X Roadmapping Prozesses und die Ableitung von Handlungsempfehlungen. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt lag auf dem Einsatz von PtX im Industriesektor. Für das Vorhaben wurden Arbeitspakete (AP) erstellt, die Untersuchungen zu Technologie, Potenzial, Ökonomie und Ökologie von PtH (AP 1), PtG (AP 2), Power‐to‐Ammoniak, Power‐to‐Ethen und Power‐to‐Propen (AP 3) umfassten. Daraus wurde in AP 4 ein Systemvergleich mit Einordnung von PtX in die Energiewende durchgeführt. Auf dieser Basis und der Identifizierung regulatorischer Rahmenbedingungen für PtX (AP 5) wurde das deutsche Energiesystem samt PtX‐Pfaden in einem Energiesystemmodell abgebildet (AP 6). Die Ergebnisse flossen in das Roadmapping ein (AP 7). Zudem erfolgte ein Austausch mit den Projektpartnern und das Verfassen wissenschaftlicher Abhandlungen (AP 8).
Das übergeordnete Ziel des Vorhabens war die Entwicklung neuer technologischer Möglichkeiten für den biologischen Methanisierungsprozess mit Archaeen1 in Power-to-Gas-Anwendungen. Im Gegensatz zur technisch ausgereiften chemisch-katalytischen Methanisierung sind hier noch Potenziale zur Optimierung verfahrenstechnischer und biologischer Prozesse für das Speicherkonzept Power-to-Gas [7] vorhanden.
Dabei sollte zum einen ein Rieselbett-Bioreaktor optimiert, simuliert und für die Hochskalierung vorbereitet werden. Zum anderen sollte eine Kombination optimal geeigneter Mikroorganismen und Packungsmaterialien selektiert und deren Verhalten und Eignung im Reaktor analysiert werden. Das Verhalten des entwickelten Systems sollte zunächst im Labor- und Technikumsmaßstab und anschließend im Feldtest an einer bestehenden Power-to-Gas-Anlage untersucht werden. Hauptziel während des Feldtests war die Produktion von einspeisefähigem Methan sowie dessen Einspeisung ins Gasnetz.
Ein Hauptziel des Projektes war es, die Normung und Standardisierung notwendiger Systemparameter und Semantik zur Beschreibung und Einbindung biologischer Methanisierungseinheiten in Power-to-Gas-Anlagen voranzutreiben. Dies sollte zum einen die Vergleichbarkeit der wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse verbessern und zum anderen unterstützend bei der Kommerzialisierung der Technologie wirken. Aus dem Projekt heraus wurde so die neue Normungsreihe VDI 4635 Power-to-X beim Verein Deutscher Ingenieure angestoßen.
The glass industry is facing increased challenges regarding climate protection targets and rising energy costs. The integration of renewable energy including conversion and storage is a key for both challenges in this energy-intensive industrial sector, which has been mainly relying on fossil gas so far. The options considered to this point for reducing CO2 emissions and switching to a renewable energy supply involve far-reaching changes of the established melting processes. This entails significant risks in terms of influences on glass quality and stable production volumes. The presented approach for the integration of a Power-to-Methane (PtM) system into the glass industry is a completely new concept and has not been considered in detail before. It allows the use of established oxyfuel melting processes, the integration of fluctuating renewable energy sources and a simultaneous reduction of CO2 emissions by more than 78%. At the same time, natural gas purchases become obsolete. A techno-economic evaluation of the complete PtM process shows, that 1,76 €/m3 or 1,26 €/kg synthetic natural gas are possible with renewable energy supply. Using electricity from the energy grid would require electricity prices < 0,126 €/kWh to allow cost competitive PtM processes in the glass industry. Such electricity prices could be achieved by electricity market-based optimization and operation of the PtM system. This operation strategy would require AI-based algorithms predicting availabilities and prices on future-based markets.
The ORBIT-Project: Biological methanation in a trickle-bed reactor - key results and next steps
(2021)
Simulation and Techno-Economic Analysis of a Power-to-Hydrogen Process for Oxyfuel Glass Melting
(2021)
As an energy-intensive industry sector, the glass industry is strongly affected by the increasingly stringent climate protection targets. As established combustion-based production systems ensure high process stability and glass quality, an immediate switch to low greenhouse gas emission processes is difficult. To approach these challenges, this work investigates a step-by-step integration of a Power-to-Hydrogen concept into established oxyfuel glass melting processes using a simulation approach. This is complemented by a case study for economic analysis on a selected German glass industry site by simulating the power production of a nearby renewable energy park and subsequent optimization of the power-to-hydrogen plant performance and capacities. The results of this study indicate, that the proposed system can reduce specific carbon dioxide emissions by up to 60%, while increasing specific energy demand by a maximum of 25%. Investigations of the impact of altered combustion and furnace properties like adiabatic flame temperature (+25 °C), temperature efficiency (∆ξ = −0.003) and heat capacity flow ratio (∆zHL = −0.009) indicate that pure hydrogen-oxygen combustion has less impact on melting properties than assumed so far. Within the case study, high CO2 abatement costs of 295 €/t CO2-eq. were determined. This is mainly due to the insufficient performance of renewable energy sources. The correlations between process scaling and economic parameters presented in this study show promising potential for further economic optimization of the proposed energy system in the future.
Green hydrogen via renewable powered electrolysis has a high relevance in decarbonization and supply security. Achieving economically competitive hydrogen production costs is a major challenge in times of an energy price crisis. Our objective is to show the economically optimal installed capacity of electrolysers in relation to wind and solar power so swift and credible statements can be made regarding the system design. The ratio between renewable generation and electrolysis power as well as scaling effects, operating behaviour and development of costs are considered. Hydrogen production costs are calculated for four exemplary real PV and wind sites and different ratios of electrolysis to renewable power for the year 2020. The ideal ratio for PV systems is between 14% and 73% and for wind between 3.3% and 143% for low and high full load hours. The lowest hydrogen production costs are identified at 2.53 €/kg for 50 MW wind power and 72 MW electrolysis power. The results provide plant constructors the possibility to create a cost-optimized design via an optimum ratio of electrolysis to renewable capacity. Therefore, the procedures for planning and dimensioning of selected systems can be drastically simplified.
In this study, a pilot-scale trickle-bed reactor for biological methanation and various scale-up scenarios for 2023 and 2050 were investigated using LCA. A best- and worst-case scenario for technology development until 2050 was evolved using cross consistency analysis and morphological field, based on which the data for the ecological models were determined.The results show that the plant scale-up has a very positive effect on the ecological consequences of methanation. In the best-case scenario, the values are a factor of 23-780 lower than those of the actual plant today. A hot-spot analysis showed that especially electrolysis operation has a large impact on total emissions. The final Monte-Carlo simulation shows that the technology is likely to achieve a low GWP with a median of 104.0 kg CO2-eq / MWh CH4.
Based on a prospective scenario analysis, possible vehicle fleet developments for the individual motor car traffic (vehicle categories N1 and M1) are investigated for Germany in order to determine the long-term vehicle fleet structure, final energy demand, and related carbon dioxide emissions until the year 2050. In this framework, a vehicle fleet model was developed which combines a bottom-up consumer demand model with a dynamic stock-flow approach. Special emphasis is thereby given to different electric power-trains and synthetic gaseous fuels based on the power-to-gas technology. In detail, two different main scenarios are developed and, in addition, the impact of different carbon dioxide taxation levels of fossil fuels on the vehicle fleet structure are analysed. The scenario results reveal a broad range of possible future vehicle fleet structures. In the short to medium timeframe, the internal combustion engine dominates the fleet as a result of efficiency improvements and an increased use of natural gas as automotive fuel. The development of electric power-trains is initially marked by hybrid vehicles, whereas battery electric vehicles dominate the fleet structure in the long-term. Under favourable conditions, also synthetic gaseous fuels are competitive which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions even further.
There are several approaches to classifying energy storage systems (see Chaps. 1 and 2). Storage systems are used in a large number of different technologies at various stages of development, and in a wide range of application areas (see Chaps. 3 to 5). This chapter compares the capabilities of the different storage systems using the following criteria:This comparison of storage systems also provides a convenient overview of the various storage systems and their capabilities.
Coupling energy sectors within the emerging residential PV prosumer systems is necessary for an optimised use of the houseowners’ own produced electricity. But the pure availability of different energy technologies in the system is not enough. By optimising the electricity usage as well as the capacities of PV generators, storage technologies, heat pumps and battery electric vehicles, not only the best solution in a technical point of view can be achieved, the need of finding the most financially beneficial system composition for single-family houses and tenements is possible. The study provides a detailed model for average German single-family houses and tenements and results for the energy transition period until 2050 for the optimised energy systems regarding optimised PV and stationary battery capacities and different heat storage capacities. Most noticeable outcomes can be observed by using a vehicle-to-home car, where a car can mostly take over the tasks of a stationary battery and by introducing a solidarity model using this type of car in tenement systems.
Due to the very high fossil energy demand, the glass industry is looking for innovative approaches for the reduction of CO2 emissions and the integration of renewable energy sources. In this paper, we present a novel power-to-gas concept, which has no impact on established melting processes and discuss it for this purpose. A special focus is set on the required CO2 capture from typical flue gases in the glass industry, as this process has not been investigated in detail yet. We used a process simulation approach to investigate post-combustion CO2 capture by absorption processes, followed by a techno-economic evaluation. Our investigations found the designed CO2 capture plant to be approx. 400 times smaller than absorption based CO2 separation processes for conventional power plants. Due to the many options for waste heat utilization, the waste heat required for CO2 desorption can be generated in a particularly efficient and cost-effective way. The resulting CO2 avoidance costs range between 41-42 €/t CO2, depending on waste heat utilization for desorption, and thus offer a cost effective way of CO2 removal from glass industry melting processes. These costs are well below the values of 50-65 €/t CO2 described so far for comparable industrial applications. In addition, we describe optimization options, like solvent and process improvements, to enable further cost reductions. These results motivate further research and development on the overall process presented in this work.
The hydrogen gas-to-liquid mass transfer is the limiting factor in biological methanation. In trickle-bed reactors, mass transfer can be increased by high flow velocities in the liquid phase, by adding a packing material with high liquid hold-up or by using methanogenic archaea with a high methane productivity. This study developed a polyphasic approach to address all methods at once. Various methanogenic strains and packings were investigated from a microbial and hydrodynamic perspective. Analyzing the ability to produce high-quality methane and to form biofilms, pure cultures of Methanothermobacter performed better than those of the genus Methanothermococcus. Liquid and static hold-up of a packing material and its capability to facilitate attachment was not attributable to a single property. Consequently, it is recommended to carefully match organism and packing for optimized performance of trickle-bed reactors. The ideal combination for the ORBIT system was identified as Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus IM5 and DuraTop (R).
Wie groß ist der Speicherbedarf in Deutschland in der weiteren Umsetzung der Energiewende? Welche Rolle spielen Batteriespeicher, Pumpspeicher, Power-to-Gas etc. im Kontext anderer Flexibilitätsoptionen auf den verschiedenen Netzebenen? Wie entwickelt sich der Markt für Batterien und Wasserstoff? In unserer Agora-Speicherstudie haben wir auch erstmalig den Begriff Power-to-X definiert und damit die bis dato entstandenen Begriffe Power-to-Gas, Power-to-Liquids, Power-to-Products, Power-to-Chemicals etc. zusammengefasst.
In the transport sector, energy transition is still in its beginnings: shares of renewable fuels are at 5% and are, with the exception of a small percentage in electrical rail transport, almost entirely restricted to biofuel. The transport sector, i.e., road, air, shipping, and rail traffic, consumes around 30% of all final energy in Germany and its dependency of over 90% on petroleum is still very high. As a result, its shares in greenhouse gas emissions are at 20%. The necessary structural change in mobility, based on energy transition, is closely linked to the question of operating energy and of energy storage also. Aside from vehicles directly powered by wind or solar energy, mobility without storage is not possible: fuel tanks in cars, gas stations, and airplanes are omnipresent. The focus of the considerations on storage demand in the transport sector is on the question of how these storages can be used with renewable energies via bio and synthetic fuels, and on the question of how much storage is necessary for these new drive technologies, such as e-mobility. Before this, mobility needs today and in future need to be examined. In the chemical sector, the situation is very much alike: there is a great dependency on fossil resources, and decarbonization is inevitable to achieve ambitious climate goals. The structural change to convert and store renewable electricity as primary energy via power-to-X (PtX) represents a storage demand. First estimates will conclude this chapter.
Energy storage systems (in the past as well as today) are one significant part in the energy supply. The following three chapters describe how storage demand will develop in the future for the electricity, heat, and traffic sectors, as well as for non-energetic consumption of fossil resources (the chemical industry). Chapter 3, the core of this section on storage demand, makes clear how and why the electricity sector is the nucleus of the energy supply of all sectors and why it creates essential bridges between electricity, heat, and transport sectors, as well as with the chemical industry.
If planned electricity network expansion takes place and flexibilities in generation and consumption are fully exploited, the demand for electricity storage, according to present estimates, will only reach a significant scale at 60–80% shares of renewable energy in the power supply. Network expansion has a great impact on the storage demand, as well as flexible power generation in power plants, combined heat and power (CHP), and flexible consumption via demand-side management (DSM). Four studies in the context of storage demand and the role of energy storage systems for flexibility are comprehensively addressed. The authors and the co-authors were themselves participants in these studies, which will be complemented by ongoing research. A meta-study summary of the main results is shown in Abschn. 3.7, and these results are compared with seven further studies.
Human beings have relied on stored energy since time immemorial. The planet’s first mechanism for storing energy arose two billion years ago. Photosynthesis captures solar energy in chemical bonds; it is a process on which all life depends. With the discovery of fire around one-and-a-half million years ago, early man learned to access this stored energy by burning wood. Only since the Industrial Revolution have humans used fossil fuels, which are the results of biomass produced millions of years ago, then subjected to geological processes. Today, the long-term objective is to utilize sustainable biomass storage, replicate it by technical means, and to develop new storage technologies.
This chapter is about the history of energy storage as it pertains to the carbon cycle. It begins with a natural energy storage system—photosynthesis—and examines its products biomass, peat, and fossil fuels before turning to storage technology in the era of renewable energies. It will also discuss how stored energy is used. This chapter focuses on natural biogenic and fossil energy storage. Other chapters are devoted to artificial storage technologies, including batteries, pumped-storage, and power-to-gas (PtG). Each begins with a short history of its respective technology.
Electricity is becoming the primary source of energy, a trend that is particularly apparent through the coupling of the electricity sector with other energy sectors. In addition to the established links between the electricity and heating sectors using combined heat and power (CHP), which is supplemented by electric heat-pumps and power-to-heat (PtH), other new links are also emerging. These links are manifesting in the form of electro-mobility and electric fuels in the electricity and transport sectors; and in the electricity and gas sector they are appearing in the form of power-to-gas (PtG). The production of basic chemical materials such as methanol or polymers using electrical energy, water, and CO2 will also play a role in the future. However, the latter will not be dealt with explicitly here. Instead we will consider in detail other aspects of electricity as a primary energy source and its integration and application for energy storage.
How is energy storage integrated and currently implemented in the electricity supply, heating supply, and mobility sectors? This chapter provides both theoretical and practical answers to that question. The chapter focuses on the integration of renewable energy. Cross-sectoral energy storage systems that link the electricity, heating, and mobility sectors are discussed in Kap. 14. This chapter focuses on storage integration in the electricity sector. After considering stand-alone networks, the chapter uses practical examples to analyze the various storage applications in the European network. The chapter concludes with a discussion of storage integration in the heating and transportation sectors.
Energy supply always requires energy storage—either as an intrinsic property or as additional system. It is an intrinsic property of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels, although less so of water-borne heat, but not of electricity. So to meet variable demands and supplies, heat and electricity networks usually require additional storage systems. When they are added to an energy network, should they be viewed as ‘suppliers’ or as ‘consumers’? Who is responsible for covering the costs of storage systems? To categorize storage systems in the energy sector, they first need to be carefully defined.
This chapter defines storage as well as storage systems, describes their use, and then classifies storage systems according to temporal, spatial, physical, energy-related, and economic criteria.
Global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, and the general transition toward renewable energy resources are mentioned many times within this book, and will not be repeated again here. Countries that are transitioning to use of more renewable energy sources are mainly using wind and solar power—except for a few countries that, due to their prerequisites, will mainly use hydro power and/or bioenergy. The transmission process in terms of energy generation so far is mainly happening in rural areas—not in urban centers. Most technologies do not really play an important role in urban areas, and are mainly focused on the application of solar energy. Solar energy is widely applied more in rural areas, although investigations show that its application in urban areas already fits well into the existing grid infrastructure. Whereas rural areas are more prone to grid integration problems, the energy infrastructure in urban centers is already well prepared for renewables integration. In fostering tight bundles of potentially linked energy generation, distribution, networking, and use across power and thermal systems in stationary and mobile modes, urban centers become particularly critical in the energy transition processes as energy systems are becoming completely based on renewable sources without a nuclear or fossil-based backbone. This chapter discusses the almost unlimited energy storage possibilities. It will show their enormous capabilities, but also their significant differences in many physical and economical parameters. Next, the authors discuss the necessity of combining and coupling the different energy sectors for electricity, heat, cold, gas, and transport. Finally, the authors present the conclusion that only when coupling the energy sectors and using cheap and efficient energy storage options from one energy sector to solve challenges within another energy sector will the energy transition process be managed in an efficient way.
he hydrogen gas-to-liquid mass transfer is the limiting factor in biological methanation. In a trickle-bed reactor, mass transfer can be increased by high flow velocities in the liquid phase, by adding a packing material with high liquid hold-up, or by choosing methanogenic archaea with a high methane productivity. This study analyzed various packings and methanogenic strains from a hydrodynamic and microbial perspective. By analyzing twelve pure cultures of thermophilic methanogens for their ability to produce high quality methane and to form biofilms on different packings, strains of Methanothermobacter were found to perform better than thus of the genus Methanothermococcus. Best methane production and adherence was observed on DuraTop®, Bioflow 9, and filter foam. DuraTop® and Bioflow 9 had also a high dynamic liquid hold-up, but the maximum hold-up was determined for expanded clay. The ideal combination for use in the ORBIT-trickle-bed reactor was identified as Methanothermobacter thermoautotrophicus IM5 and DuraTop®.
Chemical Energy Storage
(2019)
Purely electrical energy storage technologies are very efficient, however they are also very expensive and have the smallest capacities. Electrochemical-energy storage reaches higher capacities at smaller costs, but at the expense of efficiency. This pattern continues in a similar way for chemical-energy storage. In terms of capacities, the limits of batteries (accumulators) are reached when low-loss long-term storage is of need. Chemical-energy storage and stocking fulfills these requirements completely. The storing itself may be subject to significant efficiency losses, but, from today’s point of view and in combination with the existing gas and fuel infrastructure, it is the only national option with regards to the long-term storage of renewable energies.
Chemical-energy storage is the backbone of today’s conventional energy supply. Solid (wood and coal), liquid (mineral oil), and gaseous (natural gas) energy carriers are ‘energy storages’ themselves, and are stored using different technologies. In the course of energy transition, chemical-energy storage will be of significant importance, mainly as long-term storage for the power sector, but also in the form of combustibles and fuels for transport and heat. Not only are conventional storing technologies discussed within this chapter, but a detailed explanation is also given about the storage of renewable energies in the form of gaseous (power-to-gas, PtG) and liquid (power-to-liquid, PtL) energy carriers for electricity, heat, chemicals, and in the form of synthetic fuels.
Unlike the electricity sector, heating and cooling storage requirements have attracted little public attention. This is because these storage requirements have generally already been met, and will not change significantly in the future. In the electricity sector by contrast, there will be a significant shift from primary energy storage to electricity and final energy storage. Both sectors have remarkably high storage requirements. Almost all households have thermal buffers. The same is true of renewable energy heating systems such as pellet heating, geothermal, or solar-thermal systems. Some households with liquid gas or oil heating even have two storage units: a fuel tank and a thermal buffer. Exceptions include heating systems with upstream storage such as district heating or gas storage. In the future, integration of the electricity and heating sectors by combined heat and power (CHP) generation, heat pumps, power-to-heat (PtH), and power-to-gas (PtG) will facilitate the use of renewable energy, and lead to a paradigm shift. Relying on results from various studies, this chapter examines the development of heating supply in Germany and the resulting thermal storage requirements. The chapter’s later sections provide surplus and storage potential estimates. Cooling requirements are included as ‘process cooling’ under ‘process heat’, and as ‘air-conditioning’ over ‘room heating’. It is primarily integrated into electricity demand.
The feasibility of implementing power-to-gas systems, to absorb surplus solar power from electricity distribution networks and carbon dioxide from biomass anaerobic digestion (AD) plant, in order to produce synthetic methane was investigated for a region of Southern Germany that has a high solar power penetration. The analysis was based on time series electricity data for 2012 from which future load profiles were computed in accordance with the expected installed capacities of solar power across the period 2015–2025. The electrolyser capacity required to absorb 20% of excess solar energy occurring within the region's low voltage network in 2025 was estimated to be 370 MWe. First order considerations of the region's gas grid, electricity network and existing AD sites suggest that such a deployment could be achieved by installing sub-MW (and some multi-MW) power-to-gas plant at several hundred AD sites.
The present paper gives an outlook on a bandwidth of required installed power-to-gas capacity in the German power sector fed by 100% renewable generation until 2050. Two scenarios were simulated to quantify cost effects of power-to-gas on the electricity system: once with, once without additional short-term flexibility options to a system using fossil natural gas as sole flexibility option instead.
As a result, at latest in 2035, power-to-gas capacity expansion has to take place to reach required installed capacities of up to 89-134 GW in 2050. Application of power-to-gas as long-term flexibility leads to cost savings of up to 11,7-19 bn Euro enabling a fully renewable system in 2050.
Power-to-Gas technologies in the energy sector and their role in the fight against climate change
(2020)
Power-to-Gas
(2016)
This chapter provides an overview on the storage technology power-to-gas for the decarbonization of all energy sectors. Other than “negative emissions” with CCS or biomass, which have clear limits in potentials, costs and environmental benefits, storage and energy conversion technologies like power-to-gas and power-to-x enable the decarbonization by neutralizing the CO2 footprint of all energy services. Via the conversion of renewable electricity into chemical energy carriers like renewable hydrogen or renewable hydrocarbons, the existing fossil infrastructure with vast and sufficient storage and transport capacities can be used with carbon neutral renewable energy. After showing the demand for storage technologies, the technology components of power-to-gas are described, building the basis for the storage system power-to-gas itself that is described in detail, including efficiency, potential, CO2 emissions, and costs. In conclusion, a technical pathway of decarbonization including costs is described for the industrial nation of Germany and necessary policy frameworks are derived.