The urgent need to take action to decarbonise and reduce the global carbon footprint is seen globally. Countries, regions, significant industrial players and companies are setting renewable energy or decarbonisation targets.
To fully overcome renewable intermittency, energy systems must employ all available flexibility solutions, from energy storage which discharges over a period of hours – to thermal balancing using sustainable fuels, which can be transported and stored over many months.
The influx of renewables entering power systems is creating the right conditions for excess clean electricity to be used as a raw material for new types of hydrogen-based, carbon neutral sustainable fuels.
Together with flexible power plants, sustainable fuels can meet the critical demand for long-term storage solutions that balance grids in an affordable and sustainable way.
Explore the various options for energy’s decarbonised future.
What is green hydrogen? What is pink hydrogen? What does Power-to-X technology mean? When it comes to sustainable fuels, there is no shortage of jargon. We made a dictionary of sustainable fuels to explain key terminology understandably.
Hydrogen will play a major role in developing sustainable fuels and provides a variety of possibilities. Pure hydrogen can be used as a fuel in the future to help mitigate climate change, however, it requires investment in new infrastructure. Green hydrogen can also act as raw material for producing other renewable synthetic fuels, such as methane or methanol, while utilising existing infrastructure.
Wärtsilä is researching various sustainable fuels in order to provide customers with future-proof solutions to support the transition towards a 100% renewable energy future and helping decarbonise the planet.
Wärtsilä engines are already capable of combusting 100% synthetic carbon-neutral methane and methanol. Tests with blends of up to 60% hydrogen and 40% natural gas have also already been made with Wärtsilä engines and the development continues towards the use of a higher share of hydrogen. Up to 25% hydrogen blended with natural gas can already today be used in our engines.
Power-to-X is a process which allows the creation of carbon neutral, renewable future fuels. By capturing CO₂ from the air and combining it with green hydrogen, multiple different carbon-neutral future fuels can be created.
In the future, fossil fuels will be replaced by these future fuels as they lower the impact on the climate. Power-to-X can accelerate decarbonisation in industries, transportation and the energy sector.
Today, the extraction of fossil fuels used in various applications is accompanied by continuous increase in release of CO₂ into the atmosphere.
When existing CO₂ in the air is reused as a raw material for synthetic fuel production and other processes – there are no new CO₂ emissions. Circular carbon economy ensures CO₂ balance by recycling CO₂ emissions and utilisation non-fossil alternatives with a support of e.g. forests acting as carbon sinks.
As more and more countries are drafting their paths to carbon neutral societies, measures need to be taken to find alternatives to fossil fuels in the transportation, industry and power sector. Power-to-X processes can produce all the conventional fuels in a carbon neutral manner and as such have market potential across these sectors.
But what is the market potential and economic viability of Power-to-X solutions? And which countries are currently promoting its development? Listen to the recording of the webinar to learn more.
