NIRAS is part of a collaborative effort to test renewable natural gas - also known as ‘green’ gas - in DenmarkNIRAS is collaborating with a number of organisations on the testing of a new technology that generates renewable natural gas from green energy. This green gas is produced by converting CO2 into biogas using hydrogen from electrolysis and it will be stored in, and distributed via, the existing natural gas grid.
The technology, developed in the USA, reuses carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a waste product derived from biogas plants, combined heat and power stations and breweries and, thus, is an easily accessible gas. Electricity for production of the green gas will be provided by renewable energy sources.
Electrochaea, a newly founded American company that has selected Denmark for its European headquarters, will test the technology for commercial use in collaboration with, among others, the German power and gas company E.ON, the University of Aarhus and Nordjysk Elhandel. The investor is Nidus Partners LP, which has recently partnered with Danish biotech company Novozymes to invest in new energy technologies.
Invest in Denmark and NIRAS helped assemble the parties to the collaboration and introduced Electrochaea to Denmark, which is one of the world’s leading cleantech centres and also has one of the most modern and well-established natural gas grids in Europe. NIRAS also helped prepare the application for a grant from the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP) and will help implement a technical solution.
It will probably take 12 to 18 months to test the technology and, if the results of the trial project are positive, the first commercial facility will be in operation within the next three years.
There have been large investments in solar and wind energy in both Denmark and abroad. However, we still need to find ways of improving our exploitation of renewable energy. One option is to convert green electricity into green gas so that we still have energy when there is no sun or wind. Green gas can be used to supply electricity, heat and process energy but can also be used to run buses, lorries and ferries.
NIRAS has many years of experience with energy and energy effiency. If you are interested in more information, you are welcome to contact us. You can also read more about our services and competences on our pages within Energy.