Show Notes
Title
Dynamic Power-to-X: Turning Surplus Wind & Solar into Ammonia.
Introduction
What happens when wind and solar deliver more power than the grid can handle and batteries aren't the answer?
In this episode of Big Ideas Only, host Mikkel Svold sits down with Pat Han, Technical Director at Skovgaard Energy, the company behind what is called the world's first dynamic Power-to-X (PtX) ammonia plant.
Pat explains how "dynamic" PtX rides the ups and downs of wind and solar, turning excess electricity into ammonia. The ammonia process can start and stop quickly — that's why ammonia is a strong first "X" — and how sector coupling can turn rural areas into thriving energy hubs.
In this episode, you'll learn about:
- What "dynamic" PtX means and why flexibility is the missing piece for high-renewables grids.
- Why hydrogen-to-ammonia enables storage, transport, and existing markets.
- How the process works: from water to hydrogen, plus nitrogen to ammonia with high-pressure synthesis.
- How PtX is a flexible consumer that balances variability and prevents curtailment.
- Why market design, ESG, and value-chain planning matter more than tech.
- The social benefits of a PtX plant: jobs, industrial neighbors using excess heat, and revitalising rural regions.
- How good local cases unlock permits, public support, and future regulation.
Episode Content
01:20 What is Power-to-X?
05:15 Why new turbines struggle to pencil out without flexible demand
07:04 How a PtX plant can help the system
08:31 Limits of batteries for grid-scale storage
10:35 Why ammonia?
11:56 Maritime propulsion and industrial demands
12:59 Safety and NOx
15:17 Logistics, pipelines, and why ammonia scales sooner in real markets
22:01 How "dynamic" is dynamic? Matching power markets without second-by-second thrash
28:20 Turning stored energy back into electricity
30:17 Will PtX scale fast? Near-term economics, who pays for decarbonization, and the ESG shove
34:35 How anchor users can catalyze infrastructure
36:24 Right-sizing first plants, value-chain partnerships, and passing costs through
39:34 Why real projects create the political runway for better rules
43:09 Jobs, keeping young talent local, and making rural locations an advantage
48:40 Industrial symbiosis and sector coupling
51:11 Strong renewables, grid access, neighbors for heat/power synergies, supportive permitting