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Gas
Alan Dunne on why bridging the gap to a low carbon future requires a considered approach to gas
The announcement of new solar and wind farms is rightly met with celebration, as more and more grid energy can be sourced from renewables. What is rarely part of the conversation is that additional dispatchable or flexible power sources are needed to maintain grid stability when intermittent renewables aren’ t able to meet demand.
Solar and wind power become available when nature delivers it, and that timing does not always align with power demand. The gap between net zero ambitions and grid stability can be closed with carefully thoughtout deployment of gas generation, used on a temporary basis to make up for shortfalls in renewable energy provision.
Battery energy storage systems( BESS) are able to capture some of the renewable energy harvested and are ideal for addressing short-term fluctuations. Gas, on the other hand, excels at offering stable and consistent power, unaffected by the weather conditions that reduce peak output of wind and solar. The grid can use non-renewable energy to maintain constant frequency and voltage stability, even when low wind or cloud cover hamper renewable energy generation.
There is a clear case for combining the renewables, BESS and gas into one hybrid system. As the infrastructure for renewables is maturing, grid operators across Europe are using temporary 50MW + natural gas packages in compact configurations, providing capacity resilience from a few months to many years.
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