Audi using Solar and Wind Power to Make Next Gen Fuel

SolarFuel’s 250-kilowatt demonstration plant

Audi, the German car maker is building a in house plant that will use solar and wind power to make methane from water and carbon dioxide. The plant, will utilize the Technology developed by SolarFuel, a Stuttgart, Germany-based company, and if the all goes well planned, the plant will start operation later this year. The Plant will produce methane which can power nearly 1,500 of Audi’s new natural-gas vehicles, that are expected to enter the market this year.

What is Solar Fuel Technology:

To make the methane, SolarFuel combines two existing technologies. One is electrolysis, which splits water to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The other is methanation, which combines hydrogen with carbon from carbon dioxide to make methane. The company says its innovation lies in the way it’s combined the two processes. SolarFuel’s process uses the excess renewable energy generated as a result of Germany’s push to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. There’s now so much renewable energy in Germany that supply sometimes exceeds demand such as when the wind is blowing late at night. That power could be cheap enough to make methane from water and carbon dioxide, even though the process for doing so is inefficient.

SolarFuel says, Methane, which can be stored in existing natural-gas storage facilities, provides a convenient, long-term option for storing the energy.

Though Technology is Promising Challenges Remain:

One major drawback of the process is its inefficiency. Its small-scale demonstration systems are only 40 percent efficient at converting electricity to methane. It hopes to improve that to 60 percent efficient in its commercial plants. Even then, when factoring in the losses from burning methane to generate electricity again, the overall process is at best 30 percent efficient. SolarFuel hopes to recoup much of that lost energy by using it for steam, but doing that is limited by the demand for steam and the infrastructure for distributing it.

Article Written by Adrian Smith
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