FutureGas

An effective and economically efficient integration of gas, renewable based gas as well as natural gas, requires three issues to be fulfilled: 1) In an overall system context, gas should be integrated where the system benefits are highest; 2) Gas should be used optimally, that is where the economic net gains are largest taking into account the cost of possible conditioning; and 3) If needed then conditioning of gas should be carried out in the most cost-efficient way. Conditioning here refers to cleaning, upgrading, mixing and/or pressurising to achieve a desired gas quality. Of course, this reflects that the high value areas for gas utilization depend on how gas enters into the energy system. Thus, to find the most efficient and cost-competitive solutions it is crucial in an energy system perspective to address the need, possibilities and cost-effectiveness for conditioning gas to be injected into the gas grids and how different gases most economically and efficiently can be utilized. A central part of this project is therefore to model both renewables injected to the gas grid as well as alternative uses of gas in an overall system context.
The aim of the FutureGas project is twofold:
1) In an energy system context to facilitate the integration of the gas system with the power system, the district heating system and the transportation sector taking into account possible synergies. Despite the huge amounts of energy being transported through the gas grid, it is currently only loosely coupled to the rest of the energy system mainly through use of gas in CHP plants.
2) To facilitate a cost-efficient uptake of renewable gases, hereby in the longer term substituting natural gas and fossil fuels. A number of renewable gases exist, differing in their possible application in the energy system and in their costs and requirements for conditioning. The best and most cost-effective solutions for utilising and conditioning a variety of renewable gases depend on the development of the entire energy system.
In FutureGas these two issues will be looked into with regard to energy system integration, gas conditioning and, finally, economic/policy perspectives. To enable this, a novel modelling framework will be developed comprising the total energy system with an international market dimension and handling risk and uncertainty. Moreover, this new framework will facilitate combined modelling of the physical energy systems with markets and policy instruments. Thus this project has a truly interdisciplinary nature. The major part of the research will be concentrated on addressing the gas supply side on conditioning of RE gases and operation of the gas grid in combination with the demand side (CHP, industry and transport) all in a system context, on developing the gas dimension in advanced system modelling and, finally, on identifying the required policy and market structures for a successful implementation.
Thus the overall vision of FutureGas is to pave the way for an effective and cost-efficient transition to an energy system independent of fossil fuels, ensuring a strong integration of gas with the entire energy system, an economically optimal conversion to renewable gases substituting natural gas in the long run and good access to gas markets for a wide range of gas producing technologies.