The German Innovation Initiative for the Optimisation of Existing Gas Infrastructures

The complex new energy system is based on two grids: the power and the gas grid. Hot water systems have only regional importance. Both grids are collecting systems for conventional and renewable energies.

The enhancements in PV and wind energy cause a high volatility to the power grid and require huge storage capacities. The combination of the volatile power and the flexible gas grid with integrated storages has a lot of potential for new solutions. Discharging the power grid by producing hydrogen from the peaks and surplus of the wind energy (electrolysis) allows using the existing gas infrastructure and reduces significantly the extension of the power grids. The gas grid will accept higher H₂-concentrations than the actual 5% mentioned in the technical standards.

The gas – natural gas, biogas and H₂ – gets converted to power in combined cycle power stations or in decentralized CHP-systems with the additional advantage of using the waste heat which allows a reduction of the isolation of houses. The gas, nowadays the main supplier of the declining heating market, will gain an important position in the overall energy supply concept.