A European project called North Sea Power to Gas (P2G) Platform has been set up to develop the concept of turning renewable power into gas. Eleven companies have signed up to the P2G project that could reduce temporal surpluses of renewable power by converting them to gas that can be used in heating, transportation, for power generation and in the chemical industry.
“The establishment of the North Sea Power to Gas Platform is an important step in the transition towards a sustainable energy system”, said Lukas Grond, P2G expert at DNV KEMA and secretary of the Platform. “I am pleased that this group of reputed companies has joined forces to bring this technology a step further into the global energy market.”
DNV KEMA has established the Platform alongside Fluxys, Hydrogenics, Energinet.dk, Maersk Oil, Alliander, Gasunie, TenneT, ITM Power, National Grid and Open Grid.
The beauty of P2G is it can handle the fluctuations from wind and solar power to better match them with demand. The gas infrastructure is better suited to accommodate large volumes of electricity converted into gas, ideal for when the energy produced from renewable sources exceeds the capacity of the grid.
The North Sea has an established natural gas infrastructure and offshore wind farms, which would allow a generating capacity of up to 100GW by 2030.
A similar P2G platform is being established in the Mediterranean.
