WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2016 - A technique for converting
surplus clean energy from solar panels or wind farms into hydrogen, which can then
be blended with natural gas and utilized in “everything from home appliances to
power plants,” has been developed by a team of researchers at the University of
California-Irvine (UCI).
The so-called power-to-gas (P2G) hydrogen pipeline injection
program, has “successfully demonstrated” the use of excess
renewable electricity that would “otherwise go to waste,” says Southern
California Gas (SoCalGas), which funds the program at UCI.
Jeff Reed, director of business strategy and advanced technology
at SoCalGas, says the research lays the groundwork for leveraging the natural
gas infrastructure already in place for the storage and transmission of
renewable energy.
“As more wind and solar production is deployed, energy
storage will be a critical component for grid reliability,” Reed notes.
The central component of the process is the “electrolyzer,”
which takes in water and uses excess renewable electricity to power an
electrochemical reaction that splits it into hydrogen and oxygen.
The oxygen is released into the atmosphere, and the hydrogen
is compressed and sent about 60 feet through a pencil-thin, stainless steel
tube to an injection point in UCI’s natural gas pipeline.
There the hydrogen is mixed with natural gas and, shortly
thereafter, burned in the gas turbine power plant to generate electricity and
heat for the UCI campus.
The renewable fuel can also be converted to methane for use
in a natural gas pipeline and storage system or used in hydrogen fuel cell
vehicles.
“One of the big challenges we’ve faced in adding wind and
solar to the grid is what to do with the excess electricity,” says Jack Brouwer,
an associate engineering professor at UCI and associate director of
its Advanced Power & Energy Program (APEP).
“We've shown you need not halt renewable power generation
when demand is low. Instead, the excess electricity can be used to make hydrogen
that can be easily integrated into existing natural gas pipeline
infrastructure.”
Brouwer says the storage of the hydrogen in existing natural
gas infrastructure could become the most important technology for enabling a
100 percent renewable future.
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