On November 21st 2022, the first of three workshops within the ORBIT II project was held at OTH Regensburg under the title “Renewable Gas – The Forgotten Energy Carrier”. At the peak, more than 70 people gathered information on the topic of power-to-gas during 10 exciting presentations.
After a welcome note by the host Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Sterner from the OTH Regensburg, the workshop started as planned on November 21st 2022 with a keynote by Dr. Michael Specht. Dr. Michael Specht has long been a power-to-gas (PtG) pioneer and has been involved in various PtG projects for many years as head of the ZSW Renewable Energy Sources and Processes department. His keynote was followed by two exciting presentations held by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Karl from the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen Nuremberg and Michael Sterner.
After a short break, the audience comprised of over 70 participants had the opportunity to learn more about the current state of development of biological methanation plants during presentations held by Dr. Doris Schmack (HZI Schmack GmbH) and Simon Schneller (MicroPyros BioEnerTec GmbH). Afterwards, Lena Friedmann from CM Fluids AG explained possibilities for the production of regional CNG and LNG from biogenic sources.
In the afternoon, Dr. Hermann Pengg-Bührlen from kiwi AG shared some empirical values from the operation of the PtG plant in Werlte, which has been producing renewable gas with an electrical output of 6 MW since 2013. Furthermore, he gave an overview of already planned projects for the next years.
Since the energy transition can only succeed with the participation and support of the population, it was important to incorporate the voice of a specialist for public relations and media effectiveness. Fortunately, Markus Käser, chairman of the board of Bürgerenergie Bayern e. V., could be won as a speaker. Using the example of the district of Pfaffenhofen, he vividly demonstrated how citizens can be motivated and activated to get excited about and get involved in renewable energy projects.
At the end of the workshop, Thomas Eichenseher from the Bavarian State Agency for Energy and Climate Protection presented current funding measures for PtG projects at the state and federal level, and Michael Heberl from the ORBIT team provided insights into the project as well as the ongoing quest of evaluating sites for biological methanation.
The ORBIT workshops are organized annually by the project partners. The project page https://orbit-projekt.de/ keeps you informed about the project and the upcoming workshops.
Authors: FENES, Daniel Rank, Michael Heberl