Utilization of surplus electricity from wind power for dynamic biogas upgrading: Northern Germany case study

The methanation of CO₂ has been increasingly discussed for the potential long term storage of electricity and for facilitating grid load management. Using the regions of northern Germany as a case study, the feasibility of CO₂ conversion from biogas plants and its integration in existing natural gas grid was examined in this study. Furthermore the material and energy flows of in the methanation process, were evaluated to provide expression for the quantities of excess electrical energy which could be potentially stored using the biogas integrated systems. The study results showed that with 480 biogas plants in the region would be able to utilize up to 0.7TWh surplus electricity could be used to produce 10010⁶m³ at standard temperature and pressure of upgraded methane per year.