During an online debate on Tuesday (5 May), Simson flagged the upcoming building renovation wave and offshore wind as \u201cthe first two areas of work\u201d for the energy sector in the recovery phase from the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the third area amplifies the impact of both, bringing them together into one connected system. This is Energy System Integration,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
By linking traditionally separated sectors of the energy system \u2013 like electricity and gas \u2013 the European Commission hopes to create synergies that will allow integrating more renewables and decarbonise industrial sectors that are currently lagging behind.<\/p>\n
It also enables a more efficient energy system overall, for example when using excess renewable electricity that would otherwise be curtailed to produce hydrogen that can be stored for later use.<\/p>\n
Electrification, low-carbon gases, digitalisation and storage all play a role in completing the picture, or \u201cjoining the dots\u201d as the Commissioner put it.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnergy system integration is how we connect the missing links in the energy system,\u201d Simson explained, referring for instance to energy flows between electricity and gas grids.<\/p>\n
By using more electric power in sectors that are currently still highly dependent on fossil fuels, Europe could \u201cincrease the use of renewables,\u201d Simson explained, referring to the high share of renewables in electricity compared to other energy carriers.<\/p>\n
However, more renewables introduce challenges of their own, for instance because of the variable nature of renewable electricity generation and the need to balance supply and demand at all times.<\/p>\n
Energy system integration will require a more flexible power system, including storage and digitalisation, the commissioner said. And low-carbon fuels like hydrogen could provide an essential piece of the puzzle when trying to link the dots.<\/p>\n
\u201cCentral to energy system integration is the deployment of new fuel sources such as hydrogen into the system. This has the potential to be a game changer,\u201d Simson said. \u201cIt could act as an enabler, especially for the hard-to-decarbonise sectors like heavy industry and transport\u201d.<\/p>\n
Molecular energy carriers \u2013 or gases \u2013 are easier to use in sectors like heavy-duty transport where the weight of batteries makes electrification inconvenient. Molecules are also used as a feedstock for industries like steel-making or fertiliser production.<\/p>\n
Renewable and low-carbon gases<\/p>\n
Hydrogen today only makes up less than 1% of the European energy system, but the European Commission believes it could unleash a new wave of decarbonisation in hard-to-abate sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n
While environmentalists favour so-called \u201cgreen\u201d hydrogen produced from renewable electricity, low-carbon hydrogen can also be produced from natural gas, when used in combination with capture and storage (CCS) technology to bury emissions underground.<\/p>\n
That leaves the door open for the gas industry to contribute to the scale up of hydrogen production through fossil pathways as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cEurope is well-placed to benefit from CCS thanks to industrial clusters, extensive pipeline infrastructure and geological storage potential,\u201d says the International Organisation of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP).<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch a technological combination would allow for industrial scale volumes of carbon neutral hydrogen,\u201d according to Olav Aamlid Syversen from Norwegian energy company Equinor, saying this could \u201clay the foundations for a future European hydrogen economy\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During an online debate on Tuesday (5 May), Simson flagged the upcoming building renovation wave and offshore wind as \u201cthe first two areas of work\u201d for the energy sector in the recovery phase from the coronavirus crisis. \u201cBut the third area amplifies the impact of both, bringing them together into one connected system. This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5571],"tags":[12330,10630,15240],"supplier":[2317],"class_list":["post-74762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-co2-based","tag-ccu","tag-hydrogen","tag-lowcarbon","supplier-european-commission"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74762"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=74762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}