Volume 38: Energy Transitions toward Carbon Neutrality: Part I

A Holistic Approach to Empower Hydrogen Supporting Net-Zero Danny Pudjianto, Hossein Ameli, Goran Strbac

Abstract

The lack of clarity and uncertainty about hydrogen’s roles, demand, applications, and economics has hindered hydrogen development. This paper presents an integrated whole energy system (IWES) model to optimise the planning and operation of an energy system; the model is used to identify the role of hydrogen technologies in decarbonising energy systems, improving system flexibility and enhancing energy system security and resilience against extreme weather. The studies were conducted on the future (year 2050) Great Britain’s energy system to understand the hydrogen infrastructure capacity needed and their utilisation from the production, transport, storage, and demand under different scenarios. In the models, hydrogen technologies will compete against other alternative technologies, and the optimisation models will determine the least-cost solution. The studies demonstrate that hydrogen is essential for providing flexibility, energy system security and resilience against extreme weather. Synergy across hydrogen assets reduces the cost of hydrogen heating, which can be cost-competitive against the heat electrification approach.

Keywords decarbonisation, flexibility, hydrogen, optimisation, resilience, whole-system