The Role of Power-to-Gas and Carbon Capture Technologies in Cross-Sector Decarbonisation Strategies

This paper proposes an optimisation-based framework to tackle long-term centralised planning problems of multi-sector, integrated energy systems including electricity, hydrogen, natural gas, synthetic methane and carbon dioxide. The model selects and sizes the set of power generation, energy conversion and storage as well as carbon capture technologies minimising the cost of supplying energy demand in the form of electricity, hydrogen, natural gas or synthetic methane across the power, heating, transportation and industry sectors whilst accounting for policy drivers, such as energy independence, carbon dioxide emissions reduction targets, or support schemes. The usefulness of the model is illustrated by a case study evaluating the potential of sector coupling via power-to-gas and carbon capture technologies to achieve deep decarbonisation targets in the Belgian context. Results, on the one hand, indicate that power-to-gas can only play a minor supporting role in cross-sector decarbonisation strategies in Belgium, as electrolysis plants are deployed in moderate quantities whilst methanation plants do not appear in any studied scenario. On the other hand, given the limited renewable potential, post-combustion and direct air carbon capture technologies clearly play an enabling role in any decarbonisation strategy, but may also exacerbate the dependence on fossil fuels

How to make the EU Energy Platform an effective emergency tool. Policy Contribution Issue n˚10/22 | June 2022.

Uncertainty about the supply of Russian natural gas is causing extremely high and volatile European gas and electricity prices. European Union countries may struggle to import sufficient volumes of natural gas at reasonable prices. During the summer, the imperatives are to fill storage sites sufficiently in a coordinated manner and to organise sufficient import volumes to replace a substantial share of gas that might no longer come from Russia. Coordination is essential to ensure that disruptions during difficult winter months do not lead to a break-up of the EU internal gas market with potentially serious political repercussions. One part of the EU response is establishment of an EU Energy Platform for the purchase of gas, LNG and hydrogen. This aims to pool demand to leverage the bloc’s economic clout, international outreach to reliable partners and efficient use of existing infrastructure. EU leaders have backed the plan but it has not yet been translated into a feasible scheme. The platform should be developed into an effective emergency tool to safeguard gas supply in case Russian flows stop. We detail two complementary proposals to achieve this. First, there should be EU-wide auctioning of remuneration for filling storage sites in specific regions. Companies would remain responsible for all stages of the value chain, benefitting from remuneration and in return offering the market operator some control over how this gas is released during winter months. Second, EU demand for additional LNG quantities, and the sourcing of this on international markets, should be coordinated through a platform, creating a transparent market for these volumes. These mechanisms would resolve the prevention paradox and prevent free-riding. If EU countries buy gas jointly, they will find it much easier to let markets allocate scarce volumes across borders in case of a complete stop to Russian supplies. . This would reduce the risk of energy market fragmentation, as well as the subsequent energy security, economic and political impacts of a shock that would hit member states very differently

Centralised Planning of National Integrated Energy System with Power-to-Gas and Gas Storages

peer reviewedThis paper proposes an optimisation-based framework to tackle long-term centralised planning problems of integrated energy systems with bi-directional electricity-gas carriers coupling under various policy constraints. The framework is leveraged to gain insight into possible configurations of the future Belgian energy system, and identify the cost-optimal energy mix as well as short and long-term storage requirements to satisfy CO2 emissions reductions and energy security targets. Results shed light on the economics of a transition to a low-carbon energy system and reveal the potential of power-to-gas and storage in gas form to help achieve ambitious emissions reduction goals

Remote Renewable Hubs for Carbon-Neutral Synthetic Fuel Production

This paper studies the economics of carbon-neutral synthetic fuel production from renewable electricity in remote areas where high-quality renewable resources are abundant. To this end, a graph-based optimisation modelling framework directly applicable to the strategic planning of remote renewable energy supply chains is proposed. More precisely, a hypergraph abstraction of planning problems is introduced, wherein nodes can be viewed as optimisation subproblems with their own parameters, variables, constraints and local objective. Nodes typically represent a subsystem such as a technology, a plant or a process. Hyperedges, on the other hand, express the connectivity between subsystems. The framework is leveraged to study the economics of carbon-neutral synthetic methane production from solar and wind energy in North Africa and its delivery to Northwestern European markets. The full supply chain is modelled in an integrated fashion, which makes it possible to accurately capture the interaction between various technologies on an hourly time scale. Results suggest that the cost of synthetic methane production and delivery would be slightly under 150 €/MWh (higher heating value) by 2030 for a system supplying 10 TWh annually and relying on a combination of solar photovoltaic and wind power plants, assuming a uniform weighted average cost of capital of 7%. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is also carried out in order to assess the impact of various techno-economic parameters and assumptions on synthetic methane cost, including the availability of wind power plants, the investment costs of electrolysis, methanation and direct air capture plants, their operational flexibility, the energy consumption of direct air capture plants, and financing costs. The most expensive configuration (around 200 €/MWh) relies on solar photovoltaic power plants alone, while the cheapest configuration (around 88 €/MWh) makes use of a combination of solar PV and wind power plants and is obtained when financing costs are set to zero

The Role of Hydrogen in the Dutch Electricity System

This technical report investigates the role power-to-gas, hydrogen and battery storage technologies may play in the Dutch electricity system using a recently published optimization-based energy system model

How to make the EU Energy Platform an effective emergency tool

The platform could become an effective emergency tool to safeguard Europe’s gas supply, but policymakers need to address challenges to make it work