VI – Power to Gas and Heat

The future energy supply system must be designed to be more flexible. Because due to the energy transition and the expansion of renewable energies, the temporal and local supply of electricity will not always match demand in the medium term. So what can optimal energy storage and flexibility options look like in an integrated electricity, gas and heat system?

The project Competence Center “Virtual Institute – Power to Gas and Heat” is a follow-up project of the “Virtual Institute – Electricity to Gas and Heat”. The Competence Center is divided into two subprojects: The techno-, socio-economic and ecological system analysis and the experimental research infrastructure. They comprise both the construction of demonstration plants and the handling of systemic questions:

Techno-, socio-economic and ecological system analysis

• System modeling for the identification of innovative and sustainable applications in the NRW lead market “Energy and Environmental Economy”
• Life cycle assessment and criticality analysis of individual technologies and technology paths
• Assessment of the use and impact of alternative fuels for the development of future regional infrastructure

Experimental research infrastructure

• “Demonstration of flexibility options”: Characterization and modeling of the demonstration plant, optimization approaches to increase flexibility.
• “Power-to-heat in the future energy system”: Extension of the demonstration plant by the flexibility option power-to-heat including analyses on the integrability into the North Rhine-Westphalian energy system.
• “Demonstration of flexibility options”: Upscaling of an overall power-to-gas system to a scale relevant to the energy industry
• “Smart Heating”: Power-to-heat systems in residential buildings
• “Power2C4”: Development of a Power2X process for the production of the gas butadiene

In the work package “System modeling to identify innovative and sustainable applications”, the EWI and its partners are looking at individual flexibilization options in the areas of power-to-gas, power-to-heat, power-to-fuel (PtX), and demand-side management by industry and sector. Here, the institute further develops the techno-economic mapping of the various technology options in the cross-sectoral model landscape.

This will provide the basis for a detailed system analysis of the flexibility options through which the competitive situation in the market can be examined. In this context, investment strategies in the industry, private households, trade, commerce and services, and the competitiveness of individual innovative technologies in the overall system are also considered.

The spatial dimension concerning the choice of location of technologies when considering the expansion of renewable energies and the necessary power grid or gas grid availability will be investigated. This analysis will be performed within various scenarios, taking into account the region-specific advantages of the federal state of NRW. In addition, relevant use cases in NRW will be identified. Furthermore, a roadmap for a sustainable transformation of the industrial sector in NRW will be developed, taking PtX technologies into account.