Estimating H₂ production and storage cost targets for cost-competitively meeting electricity and H₂ fuel demand in deeply decarbonized electric power systems

Abstract

In order to address carbon emissions from the electricity sector, we must reduce our reliance on fossil fuels to power the grid. Renewable energy produced from solar and wind presents one part of the solution, but energy storage is critical to combat the intermittency of these renewable resources. Currently deployed storage solutions such as hydropower and lithium-ion batteries face certain limitations, and hydrogen storage offers one potential alternative. Along with other members of the Trancik Lab at MIT, I set out to study how renewables-powered-hydrogen production could be utilized as a long duration storage technology in renewables-dominated electricity systems in the future. This question requires systems-level modeling, and I was responsible for much of the early-stage development necessary to build the model. I developed the logic for the hydrogen-plus-electricity system operation, completed a literature review to understand the power and energy capacity costs of hydrogen production, hydrogen storage, and hydrogen-to-power technologies, and modified an existing Trancik Lab model to accommodate the specifics of hydrogen storage. My work will help enable simulations and cost estimates of an energy system that combines electricity production, hydrogen fuel production, and hydrogen storage with hourly resolution on a 20-year system lifetime.