Renewable electricity can be transformed into a substitute for natural gas.
Until now, electricity was generated from gas. Now, a German-Austrian cooperation wants to go in the opposite direction. In the future, these researchers and entrepreneurs would like to store surplus electricity — such as from wind power or solar energy — as climate-neutral methane, and store it in existing gas storage facilities and the natural gas network.
Throughout the world, electricity generation is based more and more on wind and solar energy. So far, the missing link for integrating renewable energy into the electricity supply is a smart power storage concept. Because when the wind is blowing powerfully, wind turbines generate more electricity than the power grid can absorb.
More from this article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100505113227.htm
Source: Science Daily / University of Toronto