Alliander - Electricity becomes gas
Eleven leading European companies, including Alliander, have founded the Power to North Sea Gas Platform. This new platform allows for research into the development of Power-to-Gas: the conversion of electricity into gas.
The availability of renewable electricity is increasing but the production of wind and solar energy varies. This generates the questions: How do we match electricity supply and demand? Another challenge is transporting the increasing amount of electricity from wind and solar parks to consumers.
What if there is a congestion due to the network capacity? Expanding our energy-network cost a lot of money. And what do we do when there is more supply than demand? Saving electricity is not possible on a large scale.
Increase of renewable energy is possible
Power-to-Gas (P2G) can be a solution because the generated electricity can be converted into different types of gases. These gases can be transported through the gas transport and distribution network, or... stored.
The gas can be used for the heating of buildings, transportation and the chemical industry. Further research in P2G is needed to increase the share of renewable energy in the overall European energy mix.
CO2-neutral gas in 2050
The P2G energy-innovation is an important subject for the realisation of a CO2-neutral gas in the year 2050. Esther Hardi (Alliander) explains why Alliander is involved: "In the Netherlands we have a very good gas distribution-network therefor gas is available almost everywhere. It is also cheaper to transport gas than electricity at long distances. We are a good partner in this development because we have both electricity and gas networks. For us it is interesting because it enables us to use our two networks in an optimal way".
The North Sea Power to Gas Platform is a stakeholder-platform and focused on the further development of the P2G cocept in the countries around the North Sea. The Platform is an initiative of energy-knowledge company DNV KEMA and includes Fluxys Belgium and Hydrogenics (Belgium), Energinet.dk and Maersk Oil (Denmark); Alliander, TenneT and Gasunie (Netherlands), ITM Power and National Grid (UK), and Open Grid Europe (Germany).