We are in the midst of the Energy Turnaround. Renewable energies are finding their way into our companies, households and cars. Power-to-X is a term that frequently appears in this context. But what does it mean?
Power-to-X refers to the various technologies used to store electricity or use it for other purposes. This is particularly necessary in the case of electricity surpluses generated by renewable energies such as wind energy, hydropower or solar energy.
With the increasing expansion of renewable energies, there will be more weather-dependent surpluses in the future. In this scenario, wind and solar energy play a central role in grid operation, which requires a rethinking of the processes. In order to ensure a stable feed-in at all times, a flexible system is needed that allocates and manages the electricity exactly as it should be. With Power-to-X, these flexible processes represent a central component of the future energy supply.
In particular, the technologies serve to strengthen the networking of energy forms by means of sector coupling. Power-to-X enables a re-conversion of stored energy into electricity in times of low regenerative feed-in.
The use of future green electricity surpluses, for example for the operation of heat pump heating systems or electric vehicles or for long-term storage and conversion, is currently being investigated by a wide variety of institutions and research groups.
In addition to current research projects, scalability also plays a major role. In the long term, the political and energy industry plan is to switch to 100 percent operation with the help of renewable energies. This requires Power-to-X technologies, since in the future there will be times when the electricity fed into the grid by wind, water or solar power will exceed current demand, while in the case of weak electricity production, energy storage systems will have to step in to meet demand.
Power-to-X represents the solution to this problem and is a good way into a clean and efficient energy future.
