1. Policy Discussion: Energy Storage and Renewable H2
RENEWABLE POWER TO CLEAN FUELS SYMPOSIUM
May 20, 2019

2. Overview CA Storage Policy Framework
Hydrogen as Long-Term, Seasonal Storage
International Examples
Integrated Energy Policy

3. First Energy Storage Targets in the Nation
AB 2514 (2010)—Directed CPUC to establish procurement targets for state’s three investor-owned utilities (IOUs)
1,325 MW by 2020
AB 2868 (2016)—Directs the CPUC to authorize behind-the-meter storage
Up to 500 MW
SB 100 (2018)—Establishes renewable and zero-carbon energy targets: 60% by 2030; 100% by 2045
(Estimated) 9604 MW of NEW storage to meet 2030 target

4. Storage Technologies Scalable multi-day and seasonal storage
P2G = only technology that can supply storage at the terawatt level
Gaseous Fuels Provide Unique Storage Functionality

5. POWER-TO-GAS Addresses the storage challenge
hydrogen can also
be stored directly
in the pipeline
excess
renewable energy
hydrogen & carbon combine through methanization
methane can be stored
in the pipeline
for future use
goes through
electrolysis
which splits
the molecule
Here’s how power-to-gas works.
Rather than losing the excess electricity that is generated from wind and solar fields, we combine it with water and put it through electrolysis.
The electrolysis process converts the electrical energy into chemical energy and splits the molecules into pure Hydrogen and Oxygen. The Oxygen bi-product can be sold and used for other applications—such as healthcare.
The hydrogen gas can be used as a fuel. Or, some of it can be stored in our existing pipelines. Or, we can combine the Hydrogen with CO2 and run it through the process of methanization to create methane—and store this renewable energy in our natural gas pipeline.
Here’s another cool aspect of this process. The CO2 can be supplied through carbon capture technologies—so CO2 emissions from industrial plants that would normally be released into the air can be repurposed in this process to form clean, renewable natural gas. Again, we have a case of double the environmental benefit.
The clean, renewable methane produced through the power-to-gas process can be stored in our existing pipeline system for use when people need it. That means the infrastructure is already in place to store and deliver the renewable energy.
10% of our methane demand can be met through power to gas. On top of the potential sourcing from biogas we just talked about, that means between 50%-60% of our natural gas supply can be generated through renewable resources.
carbon captured from factories and plants

6. Fully Built Delivery System

7. Hydrogen Specs
Hydrogen Specs

8. Integrated Energy ResourcesH2
Fuel Cells
Solar
we can achieve our goals and preserve choice, while minimizing disruption and cost
Main Points:
Natural gas—renewable natural gas—can play an integral role in getting us to our goals.
Natural gas is methane—an organic, naturally occurring gas that comes from decomposing matter. In other words, it’s a natural by product of our farms, our kitchens, and our toilets. You produce methane every day.
That means natural gas doesn’t have to come from the ground; just like electricity, it can be generated from renewable sources.
In fact, we can use RNG to achieve our goals with far less disruption. (5% and 16% figures)
Organic waste—from landfills, wastewater, dairies, and farms—can be used to create “renewable natural gas” or “biogas” to heat our homes, power our businesses and fuel our cars.
Because RNG is created by taking methane emissions that would normally be released into the atmosphere—when we use biogas from food and green waste, it has a NEGATIVE carbon intensity value—that means not only does biogas have 0 emissions—it actually takes carbon out of the air!
SOURCE:
Bioenergy Association of California, “Decarbonizing The Gas Sector: Why California Needs A Renewable Gas Standard,” November 2014.
RNG
Wind

9. THANK YOU!
We often hear that in California natural gas is a transitional resource -- to a clean and renewable energy future. To SoCalGas, this is a narrow vision of the future. Technology will demonstrate that natural gas is a foundational fuel, not just a bridge fuel, for a clean energy future. Looking forward, natural gas will be a foundation for new energy pathways, delivering energy with near zero combustion emissions -- equivalent to emissions associated with electricity use. The ongoing drive to reduce both criteria and GHG emissions, and to improve overall energy efficiency, will continue to reshape our gas technology and end uses.
We are already seeing this. Natural gas -- as both CNG and LNG -- is moving into the transportation market -- and not just for passenger and fleet vehicles; but for heavy-duty trucks and buses, for rail, and for port operations, including shipping – all of which are some of the biggest sources of our air emissions in the LA area.
We also see continued use of natural gas in low emissions and highly efficient residential, commercial and industrial end uses. We see new end use technologies that will help customers meet energy needs in different ways, like combined heat and power, micro turbines and fuel cells -- all providing energy needs more efficiently than today and all relying upon natural gas over the long-term.
And thus, we see a mix of new distributed generation resources, including not just renewables like solar rooftops, but natural gas technologies, like micro- turbines and fuels cells, helping us manage our load centers, and our electricity demand.
We also know natural gas will continue to play an important role in electric generation over the long-term future – and not just for central power plants. Carbon capture and carbon use technologies will move into commercial deployment to assist the state in de-carbonizing its central station generating sector. But new, appropriately scaled and flexible gas peaking technology will become more available, balancing the intermittency of renewables, helping to integrate them into the grid, and growing our renewable generation portfolio over the long-term.
Over the mid- to longer-term, the use of renewable natural gas from existing agricultural feedstocks, waste water, and landfills, as well as hydrogen blends, will further lower the GHG profile of all natural gas applications. Purpose grown crops and algae will expand the potential of renewable natural gas, lowering its GHG profile even further.
New and smaller-scale hydrogen reformation technology can facilitate meeting today’s growing demand for hydrogen supply and refueling from the local natural gas distribution system. And tomorrow’s new power-to-gas technologies, like batteries, will help us store our excess renewable electric generation within the gas supply and delivery infrastructure, as well as enable us to directly use a low- to zero-carbon fuel for those natural gas applications we commonly use today.
In 2050, SoCalGas will continue to manage customer demand for natural gas, renewable natural gas, low carbon gas, hydrogen and blends. There will continue to be demand for gas supply for a variety of residential, commercial and industrial uses, as well as for growing demand for transportation uses. The methane molecule may be compressed, liquefied, conditioned, reformed, decarbonized or blended, but it will continue to be delivered by pipeline to meet a growing complexity of energy demand from a growing complexity of end use appications.