ESI Platform

Step by step between now and the year 2050, the Swiss energy system is set to be overhauled. The federal government's package of measures known as Energy Strategy 2050 provides for a shift away from nuclear power. Energy consumption is expected to be reduced. New renewable sources such as solar energy, wind power, and energy from biomass should be expanded, and existing resources will be better utilised. With the Energy System Integration or ESI Platform, the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI offers research and industry a experimental platform where promising approaches can be tested in all their complex connections and interrelations.

Read more at: ESI Platform

10 October 2014

New Renewables on integration course

Energy and Environment ESI Platform Renewable Energies Industrial co-operation

The Swiss government’s Energy Strategy 2050 includes a significant expansion of renewable energy such as solar and wind power. The integration of this electric energy, which is produced in a decentralised way and with temporal fluctuations, poses a major challenge for power grids. One possible solution involves using the electricity surplus that would otherwise overload the grid for the production of gases such as hydrogen or methane. The electric energy would thus be stored temporarily in form of chemical energy. These gaseous energy carriers can be converted back into electricity, heat or kinetic energy (in gas engines) at a later date as and when needed. Dubbed power to gas, the concept is the focus of the new Energy System Integration (ESI) Platform at PSI.