Planning and economic analysis of low-carbon transition of East China power system considering electricity-hydrogen coupling

The transition of current electric power systems to low-carbon emissions is a critical task in power system planning. Due to the strong coupling between hydrogen and electric energy systems, considering the role of hydrogen in power system planning can increase the penetration rate of renewable energy and help the low-carbon transition. This paper uses planning and economic analysis to determine the path to a low-carbon transition in East China. First, an electricity-hydrogen coupling generation and transmission expansion planning model is constructed with the total system planning cost as the objective function. Then, a low-dimensional matrix modeling method that considers energy conversion equipment, energy storage equipment, demand response and energy networks is proposed. Finally, the planning results of various scenarios and the low-carbon transition path under the optimal scenario are analyzed, and the impacts of the cost of hydrogen production through water electrolysis and the charging mode of electric vehicles are also investigated. The case study results show that the proposed low-dimensional matrix modeling method can effectively solve the long-term planning problem for large-scale systems, and changes in the expected carbon neutral time will affect the speed and scale of the expansion of power generation and transmission capacity at each stage. The case study also indicates that electricity-hydrogen coupling reduces carbon emissions and total planning costs by 18.8 % and 10.7 %, respectively and reduce 38 % imported energy from other regions for East China.