IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v13y2020i7p1798-d342949.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

At What Cost Can Renewable Hydrogen Offset Fossil Fuel Use in Ireland’s Gas Network?

Author

Listed:
  • Tubagus Aryandi Gunawan

    (Mechanical Engineering, Alice Perry Engineering Building, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway H91 HX31, Ireland
    Ryan Institute for Marine, Environmental and Energy Research, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway H91 TK33, Ireland
    MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, Environmental Research Institute, Beaufort Building, University College Cork, Cork P43 C573, Ireland)

  • Alessandro Singlitico

    (Center for Electric Power and Energy (CEE), Department of Electrical Engineering, Technical University of Denmark (DTU), 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark)

  • Paul Blount

    (Coillte CGA, Dublin Road, Wicklow A63 DN25, Ireland)

  • James Burchill

    (Network Services Centre, Gas Networks Ireland, Dublin 11 D11 Y895, Ireland)

  • James G. Carton

    (Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering, DCU Glasnevin Campus, Dublin City University, Dublin 9 D09 V209, Ireland)

  • Rory F. D. Monaghan

    (Mechanical Engineering, Alice Perry Engineering Building, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway H91 HX31, Ireland
    Ryan Institute for Marine, Environmental and Energy Research, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway H91 TK33, Ireland
    MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine, Environmental Research Institute, Beaufort Building, University College Cork, Cork P43 C573, Ireland)

Abstract

The results of a techno-economic model of distributed wind-hydrogen systems (WHS) located at each existing wind farm on the island of Ireland are presented in this paper. Hydrogen is produced by water electrolysis from wind energy and backed up by grid electricity, compressed before temporarily stored, then transported to the nearest injection location on the natural gas network. The model employs a novel correlation-based approach to select an optimum electrolyser capacity that generates a minimum levelised cost of hydrogen production (LCOH) for each WHS. Three scenarios of electrolyser operation are studied: (1) curtailed wind, (2) available wind, and (3) full capacity operations. Additionally, two sets of input parameters are used: (1) current and (2) future techno-economic parameters. Additionally, two electricity prices are considered: (1) low and (2) high prices. A closest facility algorithm in a geographic information system (GIS) package identifies the shortest routes from each WHS to its nearest injection point. By using current parameters, results show that small wind farms are not suitable to run electrolysers under available wind operation. They must be run at full capacity to achieve sufficiently low LCOH. At full capacity, the future average LCOH is 6–8 €/kg with total hydrogen production capacity of 49 kilotonnes per year, or equivalent to nearly 3% of Irish natural gas consumption. This potential will increase significantly due to the projected expansion of installed wind capacity in Ireland from 5 GW in 2020 to 10 GW in 2030.

Suggested Citation

  • Tubagus Aryandi Gunawan & Alessandro Singlitico & Paul Blount & James Burchill & James G. Carton & Rory F. D. Monaghan, 2020. "At What Cost Can Renewable Hydrogen Offset Fossil Fuel Use in Ireland’s Gas Network?," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-23, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:7:p:1798-:d:342949
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/7/1798/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/7/1798/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McDonagh, Shane & Deane, Paul & Rajendran, Karthik & Murphy, Jerry D., 2019. "Are electrofuels a sustainable transport fuel? Analysis of the effect of controls on carbon, curtailment, and cost of hydrogen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 716-730.
    2. Gunther Glenk & Stefan Reichelstein, 2019. "Publisher Correction: Economics of converting renewable power to hydrogen," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(4), pages 347-347, April.
    3. Parra, David & Valverde, Luis & Pino, F. Javier & Patel, Martin K., 2019. "A review on the role, cost and value of hydrogen energy systems for deep decarbonisation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 279-294.
    4. Singlitico, Alessandro & Goggins, Jamie & Monaghan, Rory F.D., 2018. "Evaluation of the potential and geospatial distribution of waste and residues for bio-SNG production: A case study for the Republic of Ireland," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 288-301.
    5. Ludvik Viktorsson & Jukka Taneli Heinonen & Jon Bjorn Skulason & Runar Unnthorsson, 2017. "A Step towards the Hydrogen Economy—A Life Cycle Cost Analysis of A Hydrogen Refueling Station," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-15, May.
    6. Götz, Manuel & Lefebvre, Jonathan & Mörs, Friedemann & McDaniel Koch, Amy & Graf, Frank & Bajohr, Siegfried & Reimert, Rainer & Kolb, Thomas, 2016. "Renewable Power-to-Gas: A technological and economic review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1371-1390.
    7. Gunther Glenk & Stefan Reichelstein, 2019. "Economics of converting renewable power to hydrogen," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(3), pages 216-222, March.
    8. Vo, Truc T.Q. & Xia, Ao & Wall, David M. & Murphy, Jerry D., 2017. "Use of surplus wind electricity in Ireland to produce compressed renewable gaseous transport fuel through biological power to gas systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 495-504.
    9. Singlitico, Alessandro & Kilgallon, Ian & Goggins, Jamie & Monaghan, Rory F.D., 2019. "GIS-based techno-economic optimisation of a regional supply chain for large-scale deployment of bio-SNG in a natural gas network," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 250(C), pages 1036-1052.
    10. Beccali, M. & Brunone, S. & Finocchiaro, P. & Galletto, J.M., 2013. "Method for size optimisation of large wind–hydrogen systems with high penetration on power grids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 534-544.
    11. Mc Garrigle, E.V. & Deane, J.P. & Leahy, P.G., 2013. "How much wind energy will be curtailed on the 2020 Irish power system?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 544-553.
    12. Buttler, Alexander & Spliethoff, Hartmut, 2018. "Current status of water electrolysis for energy storage, grid balancing and sector coupling via power-to-gas and power-to-liquids: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2440-2454.
    13. O’Shea, Richard & Wall, David & Kilgallon, Ian & Murphy, Jerry D., 2016. "Assessment of the impact of incentives and of scale on the build order and location of biomethane facilities and the feedstock they utilise," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 394-408.
    14. Quarton, Christopher J. & Samsatli, Sheila, 2018. "Power-to-gas for injection into the gas grid: What can we learn from real-life projects, economic assessments and systems modelling?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 302-316.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cristina Hora & Florin Ciprian Dan & Nicolae Rancov & Gabriela Elena Badea & Calin Secui, 2022. "Main Trends and Research Directions in Hydrogen Generation Using Low Temperature Electrolysis: A Systematic Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    2. Luciano De Tommasi & Pádraig Lyons, 2022. "Towards the Integration of Flexible Green Hydrogen Demand and Production in Ireland: Opportunities, Barriers, and Recommendations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-32, December.
    3. Ali Ekhtiari & Damian Flynn & Eoin Syron, 2020. "Investigation of the Multi-Point Injection of Green Hydrogen from Curtailed Renewable Power into a Gas Network," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Gray, Nathan & O'Shea, Richard & Smyth, Beatrice & Lens, Piet N.L. & Murphy, Jerry D., 2022. "What is the energy balance of electrofuels produced through power-to-fuel integration with biogas facilities?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Yue, Meiling & Lambert, Hugo & Pahon, Elodie & Roche, Robin & Jemei, Samir & Hissel, Daniel, 2021. "Hydrogen energy systems: A critical review of technologies, applications, trends and challenges," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    6. Gunawan, Tubagus Aryandi & Monaghan, Rory F.D., 2022. "Techno-econo-environmental comparisons of zero- and low-emission heavy-duty trucks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Schlund, David & Theile, Philipp, 2022. "Simultaneity of green energy and hydrogen production: Analysing the dispatch of a grid-connected electrolyser," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    2. Petkov, Ivalin & Gabrielli, Paolo, 2020. "Power-to-hydrogen as seasonal energy storage: an uncertainty analysis for optimal design of low-carbon multi-energy systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).
    3. Quarton, Christopher J. & Samsatli, Sheila, 2020. "Should we inject hydrogen into gas grids? Practicalities and whole-system value chain optimisation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 275(C).
    4. Klöckner, Kai & Letmathe, Peter, 2020. "Is the coherence of coal phase-out and electrolytic hydrogen production the golden path to effective decarbonisation?," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    5. Martin Thema & Tobias Weidlich & Manuel Hörl & Annett Bellack & Friedemann Mörs & Florian Hackl & Matthias Kohlmayer & Jasmin Gleich & Carsten Stabenau & Thomas Trabold & Michael Neubert & Felix Ortlo, 2019. "Biological CO 2 -Methanation: An Approach to Standardization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-32, May.
    6. Chauvy, Remi & Dubois, Lionel & Lybaert, Paul & Thomas, Diane & De Weireld, Guy, 2020. "Production of synthetic natural gas from industrial carbon dioxide," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    7. Zheng, Yi & You, Shi & Bindner, Henrik W. & Münster, Marie, 2022. "Optimal day-ahead dispatch of an alkaline electrolyser system concerning thermal–electric properties and state-transitional dynamics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    8. McDonagh, Shane & Ahmed, Shorif & Desmond, Cian & Murphy, Jerry D, 2020. "Hydrogen from offshore wind: Investor perspective on the profitability of a hybrid system including for curtailment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    9. Qi, Meng & Park, Jinwoo & Landon, Robert Stephen & Kim, Jeongdong & Liu, Yi & Moon, Il, 2022. "Continuous and flexible Renewable-Power-to-Methane via liquid CO2 energy storage: Revisiting the techno-economic potential," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    10. Lux, Benjamin & Pfluger, Benjamin, 2020. "A supply curve of electricity-based hydrogen in a decarbonized European energy system in 2050," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    11. Huang, Danji & Xiong, Binyu & Fang, Jiakun & Hu, Kewei & Zhong, Zhiyao & Ying, Yuheng & Ai, Xiaomeng & Chen, Zhe, 2022. "A multiphysics model of the compactly-assembled industrial alkaline water electrolysis cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    12. Janke, Leandro & McDonagh, Shane & Weinrich, Sören & Murphy, Jerry & Nilsson, Daniel & Hansson, Per-Anders & Nordberg, Åke, 2020. "Optimizing power-to-H2 participation in the Nord Pool electricity market: Effects of different bidding strategies on plant operation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 820-836.
    13. Yassuda Yamashita, Daniela & Vechiu, Ionel & Gaubert, Jean-Paul, 2021. "Two-level hierarchical model predictive control with an optimised cost function for energy management in building microgrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    14. Park, Joungho & Hwan Ryu, Kyung & Kim, Chang-Hee & Chul Cho, Won & Kim, MinJoong & Hun Lee, Jae & Cho, Hyun-Seok & Lee, Jay H., 2023. "Green hydrogen to tackle the power curtailment: Meteorological data-based capacity factor and techno-economic analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    15. Gray, Nathan & O'Shea, Richard & Smyth, Beatrice & Lens, Piet N.L. & Murphy, Jerry D., 2022. "What is the energy balance of electrofuels produced through power-to-fuel integration with biogas facilities?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    16. Thema, M. & Bauer, F. & Sterner, M., 2019. "Power-to-Gas: Electrolysis and methanation status review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 775-787.
    17. Bucksteeg, Michael & Mikurda, Jennifer & Weber, Christoph, 2023. "Integration of power-to-gas into electricity markets during the ramp-up phase—Assessing the role of carbon pricing," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    18. Schlund, David & Theile, Philipp, 2021. "Simultaneity of green energy and hydrogen production: Analysing the dispatch of a grid-connected electrolyser," EWI Working Papers 2021-10, Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI).
    19. Yong Zuo & Sebastiano Bellani & Michele Ferri & Gabriele Saleh & Dipak V. Shinde & Marilena Isabella Zappia & Rosaria Brescia & Mirko Prato & Luca Trizio & Ivan Infante & Francesco Bonaccorso & Libera, 2023. "High-performance alkaline water electrolyzers based on Ru-perturbed Cu nanoplatelets cathode," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    20. Fambri, Gabriele & Diaz-Londono, Cesar & Mazza, Andrea & Badami, Marco & Sihvonen, Teemu & Weiss, Robert, 2022. "Techno-economic analysis of Power-to-Gas plants in a gas and electricity distribution network system with high renewable energy penetration," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:7:p:1798-:d:342949. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.