Solar energy can be converted to natural gas.
In Europe, more and more wind turbines and solar power plants are being installed (they even dream of covering the neighboring Sahara desert, which will permanently solve energy problems on the continent), but there are still a lot of difficulties with transportation and storage of electricity. The problem is relevant with wind turbines, which work effectively during periods of good wind (not strong and not weak), but may be idle at another time.
At the same time there are huge gas storages. In Germany alone, the gas storage capacity is equivalent to 200 terawatt hours, which is enough for all electricity consumers in the country for several months. The electrical subsystem itself has a capacity of only 0.04 TWh, that is, it is impossible to store sufficient reserves of electricity in it.
An interesting solution was proposed by a group of German scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. They built a test facility in Stuttgart to convert electricity into natural gas. The technology works with an efficiency of 60% and fits perfectly into the existing gas infrastructure.
By 2012, it is planned to build the first commercial plant to produce methane from electricity with a capacity of 10 MW.
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This is the first case when the combined method of electrolysis of water followed by methanization is used to produce methane. Methane is produced by the reaction of pure hydrogen with carbon dioxide, without any by-products.
It should be added that the intermediate product of the process is hydrogen, that is, the infrastructure created at this stage can be used if the cars switch to hydrogen fuel.
Today, mankind burns millions of tons of methane to generate electricity. In the future may be the opposite. Maybe someday the Sahara desert will export more natural gas than Russia.
At the same time there are huge gas storages. In Germany alone, the gas storage capacity is equivalent to 200 terawatt hours, which is enough for all electricity consumers in the country for several months. The electrical subsystem itself has a capacity of only 0.04 TWh, that is, it is impossible to store sufficient reserves of electricity in it.
An interesting solution was proposed by a group of German scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. They built a test facility in Stuttgart to convert electricity into natural gas. The technology works with an efficiency of 60% and fits perfectly into the existing gas infrastructure.
By 2012, it is planned to build the first commercial plant to produce methane from electricity with a capacity of 10 MW.
')
This is the first case when the combined method of electrolysis of water followed by methanization is used to produce methane. Methane is produced by the reaction of pure hydrogen with carbon dioxide, without any by-products.
It should be added that the intermediate product of the process is hydrogen, that is, the infrastructure created at this stage can be used if the cars switch to hydrogen fuel.
Today, mankind burns millions of tons of methane to generate electricity. In the future may be the opposite. Maybe someday the Sahara desert will export more natural gas than Russia.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/92934/
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