The Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is developing a process that uses sunshine to increase the amount of energy in natural gas.

Installing PNNL’s system in front of natural gas power plants turns them into hybrid solar-gas facilities. The system uses solar heat to convert natural gas into syngas, a fuel containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Because syngas has a higher energy content, a power plant equipped with the system can consume about 20 percent less natural gas while producing the same amount of electricity.

Read more at Energy Manager Today.