Are electrofuels a sustainable transport fuel? Analysis of the effect of controls on carbon, curtailment, and cost of hydrogen

dc.check.date2021-04-30
dc.check.infoAccess to this article is restricted until 24 months after publication by request of the publisher.en
dc.contributor.authorMcDonagh, Shane
dc.contributor.authorDeane, Paul
dc.contributor.authorRajendran, Karthik
dc.contributor.authorMurphy, Jerry D.
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderGas Networks Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderErvia, Irelanden
dc.date.accessioned2019-05-15T11:16:14Z
dc.date.available2019-05-15T11:16:14Z
dc.date.issued2019-04-30
dc.date.updated2019-05-15T11:05:12Z
dc.description.abstractVariable renewable electricity (VRE) decarbonises the electricity grid, but its intermittency leads to variations in price, carbon intensity, and curtailment over time. This has led to interest in utilising difficult to manage electricity to produce electrofuels (such as hydrogen via water electrolysis) for transport. The vast majority of the environmental impact of electrofuels is contained in the electricity they consume however, only consuming otherwise curtailed electricity (produced when supply exceeds demand) leads to prohibitively expensive hydrogen due to low run hours. Using a model which bids for wholesale electricity, two operational strategies (controls) aimed at increasing sustainability without requiring policy changes were tested in electricity system models of 40–60% renewable electricity penetration. (1) Bid price control set a maximum price the plant will pay for electricity. (2) Wind forecast control dictated that the plant may only run when a minimum forecast VRE production is met. It was shown that sourcing electricity at times of low cost or high forecast wind power can lead to more decarbonised hydrogen production (up to 56% more) at a lower cost (up to 57% less). When economically optimised (minimising levelised costs) the bid price control reduced the carbon intensity of the electrofuel produced by 5–25%, and the wind forecast control by 14–38%, compared to the grid average. Both controls demonstrated a high proclivity to utilising otherwise curtailed electricity and can be said to aid grid balancing. The bid price control also greatly reduced the average cost of electricity to the plant. The positive impacts increased with renewables penetration, and significant synergies between economic and environmentally conscious operation of the plants were noted. The operational strategies tested in this paper allow for transport fuels to be produced from grid electricity, without exacerbating the mismatch of supply and demand. Future decentralised quasi-storage using these operating strategies may economically produce transport fuel, and aid grid balancing.en
dc.description.sponsorshipScience Foundation Ireland (16/SP/3829); Gas Networks Ireland (Gas Innovation Group)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationMcDonagh, S., Deane, P., Rajendran, K. and Murphy, J. D. (2019) 'Are electrofuels a sustainable transport fuel? Analysis of the effect of controls on carbon, curtailment, and cost of hydrogen', Applied Energy, 247, pp. 716-730. doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.04.060en
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.apenergy.2019.04.060en
dc.identifier.endpage730en
dc.identifier.issn0306-2619
dc.identifier.journaltitleApplied Energyen
dc.identifier.startpage716en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/7914
dc.identifier.volume247en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevier Ltd.en
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SFI/SFI Research Centres/12/RC/2302/IE/Marine Renewable Energy Ireland (MaREI) - The SFI Centre for Marine Renewable Energy Research/en
dc.relation.urihttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261919307068
dc.rights© 2019, Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript version is made available under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectHydrogenen
dc.subjectPower-to-gasen
dc.subjectElectrofuelen
dc.subjectCurtailmenten
dc.subjectEnergy storageen
dc.subjectSustainabilityen
dc.titleAre electrofuels a sustainable transport fuel? Analysis of the effect of controls on carbon, curtailment, and cost of hydrogenen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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