News Detail

2018-10-17 STORE&GO political dinner event in the European Parliament

The EU funded (Horizon 2020) project STORE&GO discussed the potential of the power-to-gas technology storing renewable power with key stakeholders from politics, industry and organisations.

Brussels, October 17, 2018 – The European large-scale energy storage project STORE&GO intensifies the political dialogue in Brussels to show that the power-to-gas technology is the key enabler for a CO2 neutral European energy system. As part of a political dinner the STORE&GO consortium discussed with key stakeholders from the European Commission, industry and research organisations the potential of power-to-gas in the European energy system as an important step in the energy transition.

The political dinner was opened by three keynote speeches starting   with Prof. Dr. Dimosthenis Trimis, who introduced the participants to the work within the STORE&GO project and its first results, which have been published in recent month. The first results deal with the Life cycle environmental impact assessment model for power-to-gas systems, the role of PtG in the future energy system and an analysis on PtG licensing and regulatory framework in Europe and in Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

 

“The technology is ready but needs to be tested under real conditions. Therefore three demo plants are built and operated in Germany, Italy and in Switzerland. This will allow to evaluate different innovative technologies and to demonstrate technical maturity of power-to-gas. (…) The project will define a roadmap allowing politics to set an appropriate political framework and industry to invest into this technology at a larger scale”, commented Prof. Dr. Trimis, CEO of the DVGW Research Centre at Engler-Bunte-Institute of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

 

After that Dr. Tudor Constantinescu, Principal Advisor of the European Commission – DG Energy, talked about the role of PtG in the Energy transition from the perspective of the European Commission. He presented the major energy challenges in Europe, as well as the main policy developments in the EU regarding the European energy system and in specific for energy markets and storage. Furthermore he highlighted the importance of sector coupling and the key role of long term and large scale storage as well as the need to establish a regulatory framework that allows all relevant technologies to contribute to a flexible energy system.

 

Prof. Dr. Gerald Linke, Managing Director of the German Association for Gas and Water (DVGW), held the third keynote, presenting not only a vision for the future European energy system but beyond that a detailed strategy how gas and green gas can play a key role in decarbonizing the German and European energy systems. In 2017, the German Gas and Water Association (DVGW) has developed a strategy on how to stay within the national carbon budget by utilising more and more natural gas and renewable gases and by bringing power grids and gas grids to convergence: a coupling of both sectors. It consists of three steps and is applicable to all relevant segments:

Fuel Switch: Fuel switch means the replacement of CO2 intensive energy sources like coal and oil by renewable gases and energy sources with less CO2 emissions like natural gas.

Content Switch: Content switch means the continuous increase of CO2 free gases within the electricity-, mobility-, industry- and heating sector.

Modal Switch: Modal switch means the sectoral coupling of the existing infrastructure as a basis for an efficiently working integrated energy system.

“Gas is the key to success for the energy transition! Within the framework of the energy policy system defined by climate protection, security of supplies and economics, gas can play a key role in reshaping the energy supplies in Germany – and worldwide”, stated Prof. Dr. Linke during the panel discussion, which followed after the keynote speeches.

 

The panel discussion was completed by Daniela Decurtins(Director of the Association of the Swiss Gas Industry), who represented Switzerland, Axel Wietfeld(Managing Director of Uniper Energy Storage), who represented the energy storage industry, Prof. Dr. Guido Saracco(Rector, Politecnico di Torino), representing the research community, Ulco Vermeulen(Member Executive Board and Director Participations & Business Development, Gasunie), who represented the Netherlands and gas infrastructure. Furthermore, the STORE&GO demosite patrons joined the panel discussion, Giuseppina Picierno(Member of the European Parliament) and Dr. phil. Stefan Müller-Altermatt(National Council Member of the Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy Commission).

Atmostat

ATMOSTAT

Climeworks

Climeworks

Commune di Troia

Commune di Troia

DBI-GUT

DBI-GUT

ÈCOLE POYTECHNIQUE FÉDÉRALE DE LAUSANNE

EPFL

Electrochaea

Electrochaea

EMPA

EMPA

Energieinstitut (EIL)

Energieinstitut (EIL)

Energy Delta Institute

Energy Delta Institute

Energy research Centre of the Netherlands

Energy research Centre of the Netherlands

Energy Valley Foundation

Energy Valley

Engineering

French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)

French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)

Gas- und Wärme-Institut Essen e. V.

gwi

DVGW e. V.

DVGW

HanzeResearch

Hanze

Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil

(HSR) Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil

HySyTech

hysytech

IREN

IREN

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

KIT

Polito

Polito

Regio Energie Solothurn

regioenergie

The Swiss Association of Gas and Water

svgw

thyssenkrupp

thyssenkrupp

Uniper

uniper

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

HORIZON 2020

This project received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 691797.