Press Briefing

From Methane to Hydrogen: New Solutions for Decarbonising Europe’s Energy System

The European Commission has called for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050 in its long-term strategic vision, “A Clean Planet for All”. One building block of the strategy is to maximise the deployment of renewables and the use of electricity to fully decarbonise Europe’s energy supply.

Germany’s energy system is currently undergoing a fundamental transformation based on these priorities – the Energiewende. Today’s record levels of intermittent wind and solar energy and the goal to expand renewables to cover 65 percent of electricity consumption by 2030 are posing a challenge to the stability of the country’s energy system. But despite a strong focus on efficiency measures, electricity is unlikely to fully cover overall energy consumption, as electrification is not suitable for all areas of application, such as industrial process heat. Therefore, the vision of an all-electric world is not the pathway towards a decarbonised energy future.

These developments call for a more strategic utilisation of the gas grid to balance energy demand, keep energy costs low and store renewable energy. The so-called “sector coupling” will therefore become an inevitable element of any energy transition. Moreover, it has become increasingly evident that hydrogen will be an integral part of the solution. What can the EU learn from the energy transition experiences to date? How can it speed up climate protection efforts in its member countries? And what role can hydrogen and the gas grid play in a decarbonised energy system? At this press briefing, the gas industry will provide answers to these questions and outline the potential of hydrogen for the European energy future.

The briefing is hosted by the gas initiative Zukunft ERDGAS, which represents the interests of 130 companies from the gas value chain in Europe’s largest gas market, Germany. At the event, the leading energy consultancy Pöyry will set the scene and present the results of their latest study “Hydrogen from natural gas – the key to deep decarbonisation”. The briefing will also outline the potential of different hydrogen production technologies such as power-to-gas and include a presentation by Prof. Alberto Abánades Velasco from the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid on methane pyrolysis – a novel technology to cost-efficiently produce carbon-neutral hydrogen from natural gas.

Speakers

• Timm Kehler, Chairman, Zukunft ERDGAS
• Richard Sarsfield-Hall, Director of the energy division, Pöyry Management Consulting
• Prof. Alberto Abánades Velasco, Department of Energy Engineering, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM)

We look forward to your registration by 18th June.