Power-to-Gas for Energy System Integration and Storage

The convergence of the utility grid with the natural gas distribution/storage infrastructure increases the flexibility of energy systems for managing intermittent renewable supplies. Renewable Natural Gas, Power-to-Gas (PtG) and other gas-based energy storage solutions offer the ability to improve the economic and technical management of surplus off-peak power, and intermittent renewable energy. New, adaptive infrastructure such as electrolyzers allows simultaneous grid stabilization, seasonal storage of bulk power, geographic transmission of energy and dispatchable regeneration of distributed renewable energy. This is achieved by bridging the electricity and gas-pipeline infrastructure together.

A key advantage of the development of Power-to-Gas is the ability to move energy between the electrical and natural gas systems, This bi-directional energy flow adds flexibility that is used to facilitate the development of Smart Grid integrated energy system. The conversion of renewable and surplus power to hydrogen through Power-to-Gas optimizes both the existing natural gas and electricity networks to limit wasted energy and costly electricity exports while providing an opportunity to integrate more renewable energy into the electrical grid. In addition to the economic and environmental benefits of Power-to-Gas, optimizing the existing infrastructure by deferring the infrastructure costs associated with the construction of new electricity transmission infrastructure will increase public acceptance. 

Azadeh Maroufmashat obtained her B.Sc. degree in mechanical Engineering in 2007 and her M.Sc. and PhD in Energy system engineering in 2010, and 2015, respectively, all from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. During her she worked as a visiting scholar at University of Waterloo, ON, Canada. Presently, she is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She as a co-advisor of the University of Waterloo team is the Grand Prize Winner of the Hydrogen Design Contest, held by Department of Energy in USA. She has also been serving as a reviewer of several prestigious international journals. Her areas of interests are the integration of energy systems, Energy Hub Modeling. Optimization, Power to Gas, as well as Hydrogen Economy.