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Customer application September 18, 2020

Power-to-Gas: A Beacon of Hope for the Smart Grid

Power-to-gas systems, which convert excess electricity into storable hydrogen and methane gases, could play a decisive role in the future of the energy market. After all, the systems couple the power sector with heating and mobility, and thus incorporate two important areas of climate change mitigation. WAGO’s controllers facilitate connection and communicative networking of the systems into flexibly controllable virtual power plants.

Climate change mitigation has been given a high level of priority in Germany. By 2050, the proportion of electrical consumption from renewables is to be increased from a current value of 35 % to 100 %. Experts consider a higher rate of expansion quite likely, because, in their opinion, if climate change is actually to be limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, then renewable energy sources must also fully supply the mobility and heating sectors by 2050. However, the power lines are already stretched to the limit, due to the fast expansion of solar and wind energy. Renewable energy production is subject to weather-induced fluctuations and must be adapted to demand in order to maintain network stability.

From Electricity to Gas – and Back to Electricity Here’s How WAGO Supports You:

  • Easy connection of power-to-gas systems at the control level using the WAGO Telecontrol Gateway WTG
  • Trouble-free integration into virtual power plants using the new VHPready communication standard
  • Encrypted data transmission via OpenVPN or IPSec

Integrated Energy: Electricity, Heat and Mobility

Storage devices can solve the problem by accommodating excess current and discharging it as needed. While battery storage devices are suited for drawing excess electricity quickly from the network in the short term, so-called power-to-gas systems can provide long-term storage to relieve strain on the grid. The technology is currently being tested in a number of projects. Whenever wind farms produce too much electricity for their surroundings, the excess power is converted to hydrogen using electrolysis. The gas is stored in tanks, and the heat generated through electrolysis is supplied into the district heating network. When electrical consumption rises again, the hydrogen is burned, for example, in a connected biogas system.