IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v210y2018icp182-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Power-to-Gas: Electrolyzers as an alternative to network expansion – An example from a distribution system operator

Author

Listed:
  • Robinius, Martin
  • Raje, Tanmay
  • Nykamp, Stefan
  • Rott, Tobias
  • Müller, Martin
  • Grube, Thomas
  • Katzenbach, Burkhard
  • Küppers, Stefan
  • Stolten, Detlef

Abstract

The high share of fluctuating renewable energy sources (FRES) such as wind and photovoltaic (PV) necessitates the need for controllable generation, storage devices or adjustable consumption, due to the surplus arising from installed capacity that exceeds the conventional electrical load. The use of this surplus to produce hydrogen and oxygen via electrolysis is called “Power-to-Gas” (P2G). This study investigates the potential use of electrolyzers in the electrical distribution grid as an alternative to a network expansion with cables. For this purpose, an existing distribution grid was modelled and the possible size of an electrolyzer investigated so as to achieve the same effect as with an electrical cable in terms of, for example, the voltage level. The investment cost of both possibilities was compared and the hydrogen production costs analyzed. The results show that laying a cable is currently a more cost-effective option in comparison to an electrolyzer, costing around 30% of the overall investment required for the electrolyzer. The remaining 70% of the electrolyzer cost needs to be met by other means, for example by selling the hydrogen produced. However, profitability is highly dependent on the surplus in the grid and thus the full load hours of the electrolyzer. Furthermore, the results obtained cannot be generalized, since they are highly influenced by the scenario used.

Suggested Citation

  • Robinius, Martin & Raje, Tanmay & Nykamp, Stefan & Rott, Tobias & Müller, Martin & Grube, Thomas & Katzenbach, Burkhard & Küppers, Stefan & Stolten, Detlef, 2018. "Power-to-Gas: Electrolyzers as an alternative to network expansion – An example from a distribution system operator," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 182-197.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:210:y:2018:i:c:p:182-197
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.10.117
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261917315623
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2017.10.117?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Guandalini, Giulio & Campanari, Stefano & Romano, Matteo C., 2015. "Power-to-gas plants and gas turbines for improved wind energy dispatchability: Energy and economic assessment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 117-130.
    2. Alexander Otto & Martin Robinius & Thomas Grube & Sebastian Schiebahn & Aaron Praktiknjo & Detlef Stolten, 2017. "Power-to-Steel: Reducing CO 2 through the Integration of Renewable Energy and Hydrogen into the German Steel Industry," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-21, April.
    3. Kakran, Sandeep & Chanana, Saurabh, 2018. "Smart operations of smart grids integrated with distributed generation: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P1), pages 524-535.
    4. Reuß, M. & Grube, T. & Robinius, M. & Preuster, P. & Wasserscheid, P. & Stolten, D., 2017. "Seasonal storage and alternative carriers: A flexible hydrogen supply chain model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 290-302.
    5. Bensmann, B. & Hanke-Rauschenbach, R. & Müller-Syring, G. & Henel, M. & Sundmacher, K., 2016. "Optimal configuration and pressure levels of electrolyzer plants in context of power-to-gas applications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 107-124.
    6. Martin Robinius & Alexander Otto & Philipp Heuser & Lara Welder & Konstantinos Syranidis & David S. Ryberg & Thomas Grube & Peter Markewitz & Ralf Peters & Detlef Stolten, 2017. "Linking the Power and Transport Sectors—Part 1: The Principle of Sector Coupling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
    7. Martin Robinius & Alexander Otto & Konstantinos Syranidis & David S. Ryberg & Philipp Heuser & Lara Welder & Thomas Grube & Peter Markewitz & Vanessa Tietze & Detlef Stolten, 2017. "Linking the Power and Transport Sectors—Part 2: Modelling a Sector Coupling Scenario for Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-23, July.
    8. Bertsch, Valentin & Hall, Margeret & Weinhardt, Christof & Fichtner, Wolf, 2016. "Public acceptance and preferences related to renewable energy and grid expansion policy: Empirical insights for Germany," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 465-477.
    9. Bolívar Jaramillo, Lucas & Weidlich, Anke, 2016. "Optimal microgrid scheduling with peak load reduction involving an electrolyzer and flexible loads," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 857-865.
    10. Nastasi, Benedetto & Lo Basso, Gianluigi, 2016. "Hydrogen to link heat and electricity in the transition towards future Smart Energy Systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 5-22.
    11. Zhang, Xiaojin & Bauer, Christian & Mutel, Christopher L. & Volkart, Kathrin, 2017. "Life Cycle Assessment of Power-to-Gas: Approaches, system variations and their environmental implications," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 326-338.
    12. Caumon, Pauline & Lopez-Botet Zulueta, Miguel & Louyrette, Jérémy & Albou, Sandrine & Bourasseau, Cyril & Mansilla, Christine, 2015. "Flexible hydrogen production implementation in the French power system: Expected impacts at the French and European levels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 556-562.
    13. Kotowicz, Janusz & Bartela, Łukasz & Węcel, Daniel & Dubiel, Klaudia, 2017. "Hydrogen generator characteristics for storage of renewably-generated energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 156-171.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Blanco, Herib & Nijs, Wouter & Ruf, Johannes & Faaij, André, 2018. "Potential for hydrogen and Power-to-Liquid in a low-carbon EU energy system using cost optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 617-639.
    2. Martin Robinius & Alexander Otto & Konstantinos Syranidis & David S. Ryberg & Philipp Heuser & Lara Welder & Thomas Grube & Peter Markewitz & Vanessa Tietze & Detlef Stolten, 2017. "Linking the Power and Transport Sectors—Part 2: Modelling a Sector Coupling Scenario for Germany," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Ortiz-Imedio, Rafael & Caglayan, Dilara Gulcin & Ortiz, Alfredo & Heinrichs, Heidi & Robinius, Martin & Stolten, Detlef & Ortiz, Inmaculada, 2021. "Power-to-Ships: Future electricity and hydrogen demands for shipping on the Atlantic coast of Europe in 2050," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    4. McKenna, R.C. & Bchini, Q. & Weinand, J.M. & Michaelis, J. & König, S. & Köppel, W. & Fichtner, W., 2018. "The future role of Power-to-Gas in the energy transition: Regional and local techno-economic analyses in Baden-Württemberg," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 386-400.
    5. Frank, Elimar & Gorre, Jachin & Ruoss, Fabian & Friedl, Markus J., 2018. "Calculation and analysis of efficiencies and annual performances of Power-to-Gas systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 217-231.
    6. Mikovits, Christian & Wetterlund, Elisabeth & Wehrle, Sebastian & Baumgartner, Johann & Schmidt, Johannes, 2021. "Stronger together: Multi-annual variability of hydrogen production supported by wind power in Sweden," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(PB).
    7. Welder, Lara & Ryberg, D.Severin & Kotzur, Leander & Grube, Thomas & Robinius, Martin & Stolten, Detlef, 2018. "Spatio-temporal optimization of a future energy system for power-to-hydrogen applications in Germany," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 1130-1149.
    8. Martin Robinius & Alexander Otto & Philipp Heuser & Lara Welder & Konstantinos Syranidis & David S. Ryberg & Thomas Grube & Peter Markewitz & Ralf Peters & Detlef Stolten, 2017. "Linking the Power and Transport Sectors—Part 1: The Principle of Sector Coupling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-22, July.
    9. Stefan Arens & Sunke Schlüters & Benedikt Hanke & Karsten von Maydell & Carsten Agert, 2020. "Sustainable Residential Energy Supply: A Literature Review-Based Morphological Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-28, January.
    10. Els van der Roest & Theo Fens & Martin Bloemendal & Stijn Beernink & Jan Peter van der Hoek & Ad J. M. van Wijk, 2021. "The Impact of System Integration on System Costs of a Neighborhood Energy and Water System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-33, May.
    11. Reuß, Markus & Grube, Thomas & Robinius, Martin & Stolten, Detlef, 2019. "A hydrogen supply chain with spatial resolution: Comparative analysis of infrastructure technologies in Germany," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 438-453.
    12. Tlili, Olfa & Mansilla, Christine & Robinius, Martin & Syranidis, Konstantinos & Reuss, Markus & Linssen, Jochen & André, Jean & Perez, Yannick & Stolten, Detlef, 2019. "Role of electricity interconnections and impact of the geographical scale on the French potential of producing hydrogen via electricity surplus by 2035," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 977-990.
    13. Colbertaldo, P. & Cerniauskas, S. & Grube, T. & Robinius, M. & Stolten, D. & Campanari, S., 2020. "Clean mobility infrastructure and sector integration in long-term energy scenarios: The case of Italy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    14. Kotowicz, Janusz & Węcel, Daniel & Jurczyk, Michał, 2018. "Analysis of component operation in power-to-gas-to-power installations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 45-59.
    15. Kockel, Christina & Nolting, Lars & Priesmann, Jan & Praktiknjo, Aaron, 2022. "Does renewable electricity supply match with energy demand? – A spatio-temporal analysis for the German case," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    16. Gawlick, Julia & Hamacher, Thomas, 2023. "Impact of coupling the electricity and hydrogen sector in a zero-emission European energy system in 2050," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    17. Wickham, David & Hawkes, Adam & Jalil-Vega, Francisca, 2022. "Hydrogen supply chain optimisation for the transport sector – Focus on hydrogen purity and purification requirements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    18. 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.
    19. Bongartz, Dominik & Doré, Larissa & Eichler, Katharina & Grube, Thomas & Heuser, Benedikt & Hombach, Laura E. & Robinius, Martin & Pischinger, Stefan & Stolten, Detlef & Walther, Grit & Mitsos, Alexan, 2018. "Comparison of light-duty transportation fuels produced from renewable hydrogen and green carbon dioxide," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C), pages 757-767.
    20. Grüger, Fabian & Dylewski, Lucy & Robinius, Martin & Stolten, Detlef, 2018. "Carsharing with fuel cell vehicles: Sizing hydrogen refueling stations based on refueling behavior," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 1540-1549.

    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:eee:appene:v:210:y:2018:i:c:p:182-197. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    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.