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Considering environmental impacts of energy storage technologies: A life cycle assessment of power-to-gas business models

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  • Tschiggerl, Karin
  • Sledz, Christian
  • Topic, Milan

Abstract

The Power-to-Gas technology offers a promising answer to store energy efficiently and in high amounts. Renewable energy is thereby transformed into gas, which is then transported and stored using the existing infrastructure for natural gas. A quite new approach is to store energy from volatile renewable sources in the forms of hydrogen or methane in pore spaces of geological formations. Besides its technical and legal feasibility the environmental impacts of an implementation have to be considered before large-scale deployment is tackled. In the frame of the demonstration project alternative business models were developed and evaluated regarding their environmental effects using the methodology of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The conducted Life Cycle Impact Assessment clearly shows that, regardless of the implemented business model, the source of energy is the key factor for the environmental performance of a Power-to-Gas plant. This means that background processes dominate the foreground processes. The LCA includes sensitivity analyses for relevant parameters and results for different environmental impact indicators. Additionally, further potential to increase the efficiency of Power-to-Gas plants and involved units was uncovered. The outcomes of this innovative approach regarding the storage of renewable energies are from outstanding importance for the strategic development of future energy systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Tschiggerl, Karin & Sledz, Christian & Topic, Milan, 2018. "Considering environmental impacts of energy storage technologies: A life cycle assessment of power-to-gas business models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 1091-1100.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:160:y:2018:i:c:p:1091-1100
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2018.07.105
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    Cited by:

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    5. Kafetzis, A. & Ziogou, C. & Panopoulos, K.D. & Papadopoulou, S. & Seferlis, P. & Voutetakis, S., 2020. "Energy management strategies based on hybrid automata for islanded microgrids with renewable sources, batteries and hydrogen," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    6. Kapila, S. & Oni, A.O. & Gemechu, E.D. & Kumar, A., 2019. "Development of net energy ratios and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of large-scale mechanical energy storage systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 592-603.
    7. Koj, Jan Christian & Wulf, Christina & Zapp, Petra, 2019. "Environmental impacts of power-to-X systems - A review of technological and methodological choices in Life Cycle Assessments," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 865-879.
    8. Benim, Ali Cemal & Pfeiffelmann, Björn & Ocłoń, Paweł & Taler, Jan, 2019. "Computational investigation of a lifted hydrogen flame with LES and FGM," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 1172-1181.
    9. Li, Yanxue & Gao, Weijun & Ruan, Yingjun, 2019. "Potential and sensitivity analysis of long-term hydrogen production in resolving surplus RES generation—a case study in Japan," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 1164-1172.
    10. Tingling Wang & Tianyu Huo & Huihang Li, 2024. "Bi-Layer Planning of Integrated Energy System by Incorporating Power-to-Gas and Ground Source Heat Pump for Curtailed Wind Power and Economic Cost Reduction," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-22, March.
    11. Valeriy V. Iosifov & Evgenii Yu. Khrustalev & Sergey N. Larin & Oleg E. Khrustalev, 2020. "Strategic Planning of Regional Energy System Based on Life Cycle Assessment Methodology," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 10(3), pages 62-68.
    12. Maciej Żołądek & Alexandros Kafetzis & Rafał Figaj & Kyriakos Panopoulos, 2022. "Energy-Economic Assessment of Islanded Microgrid with Wind Turbine, Photovoltaic Field, Wood Gasifier, Battery, and Hydrogen Energy Storage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-23, September.
    13. Skov, Iva Ridjan & Schneider, Noémi, 2022. "Incentive structures for power-to-X and e-fuel pathways for transport in EU and member states," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    14. Daraei, Mahsa & Campana, Pietro Elia & Thorin, Eva, 2020. "Power-to-hydrogen storage integrated with rooftop photovoltaic systems and combined heat and power plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    15. Rövekamp, Patrick & Schöpf, Michael & Wagon, Felix & Weibelzahl, Martin & Fridgen, Gilbert, 2021. "Renewable electricity business models in a post feed-in tariff era," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    16. Zhang, Dongdong & Zhu, Hongyu & Zhang, Hongcai & Goh, Hui Hwang & Liu, Hui & Wu, Thomas, 2022. "An optimized design of residential integrated energy system considering the power-to-gas technology with multi-functional characteristics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).

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