Storing Renewably Generated Electricity. The Holy Grail of Alternative Power
Work is continuing on developing storage technologies for renewable energy generated electricity from sources such as solar and wind. Innovations in storage such as high-speed flywheel, pneumatic, hydrogen and pumped storage are offering competition to the classic chemical battery.
E. ON set up in Brandenburg Falkenhagen, a pilot plant for the conversion of electricity from wind energy to hydrogen by investing more than five million euros in research into this technology. The plant will produce from 2013 through electrolysis from renewable electricity per hour, approximately 360 cubic meters of hydrogen. This is fed into the gas grid and Ontras-used natural gas as normal. Thus, the natural gas network to the storage of electricity generated from weather-dependent renewable energy.
E. ON wants to test this technology in Falkenhagen develop intensively. The potential is immense: Already today, the natural gas in power are easily added up to five percent hydrogen in the medium term, experts expect up to 15 percent. This would allow the entire current renewable power generation in the German natural gas network are stored. A need for storage capacity in such a magnitude will exist but not for several decades, when most of the electricity demand is met from renewable energy sources.
In order to increase the share of electricity to our weather permitting wind power generation in the coming years, we also need new memory. Here is the use of existing natural gas infrastructure for the storage of hydrogen in the long term is a promising approach in which we are our strengths as electricity and gas company in a special way to combine, “says Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Maubach, Member of the Executive Board of E. ON AG and responsible for technology and development.
If Germany planned increases in the coming years, the proportion of fluctuating wind and solar energy in electricity generation as the offer is temporarily exceed the current demand and bring the power grid to its limits. Therefore, E. ON is investing in technologies to store this excess energy. Currently stands, especially in building the capacity of pumped storage power stations foreground. E. ON is planning an expansion of the pumped storage power station on Hessian Lake Eder and – together with partners – to build a new facility at the German-Austrian border.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by the management of E. ON Group and other information currently available. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could cause the actual results, financial situation, development or performance of the company to differ materially from estimates given here A ¬. The E. ON AG does not intend and undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments.
Tags: alternative energy, Battery, energy storage, hydrogen, pumped storage, renewable enegry
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