Flexible hydrogen production implementation in the French electric system: an analysis of future economic competitiveness

摘要

Alkaline water electrolysis using low CO_2 electricity could act as an environment-friendly, decarbonized way to produce hydrogen while helping the electric system to keep the balance between electricity production and consumption. In a market-driven approach initiated in previous works, the electrolysis process operation had first been optimized on a price signal, assuming that this additional demand would not impact the optimal dispatch. The present study examines how a flexible demand corresponding to a given capacity of electrolyzers located in France would be supplied by electricity. The resulting cost of producing hydrogen is also assessed. In a prospective scenario, the whole European electric system of 2030 is modeled with an hourly long term economic dispatch model. Hydrogen production is considered as an elastic electricity demand which is satisfied as long as the electricity price remains lower than a threshold. Several thresholds have been tested. Results show that only proactive scenarios with high penetration rates of decarbonized energy enable the production of significant amounts of competitive low-carbon hydrogen (€3-5 /kgH2). This project was funded by the French National Research Agency under the EESI 2010 program.