Interlinking the Renewable Electricity and Gas Sectors: A Techno-Economic Case Study for Austria

Christoph Sejkora, Johannes Lindorfer, Lisa Kühberger and Thomas Kienberger
Additional contact information
Christoph Sejkora: Chair of Energy Network Technology, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz-Josef Straße 18, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
Johannes Lindorfer: Energy Institute at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenberger Strasse 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria
Lisa Kühberger: Chair of Energy Network Technology, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz-Josef Straße 18, A-8700 Leoben, Austria
Thomas Kienberger: Chair of Energy Network Technology, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz-Josef Straße 18, A-8700 Leoben, Austria

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-38

Abstract: Achieving climate neutrality requires a massive transformation of current energy systems. Fossil energy sources must be replaced with renewable ones. Renewable energy sources with reasonable potential such as photovoltaics or wind power provide electricity. However, since chemical energy carriers are essential for various sectors and applications, the need for renewable gases comes more and more into focus. This paper determines the Austrian green hydrogen potential, produced exclusively from electricity surpluses. In combination with assumed sustainable methane production, the resulting renewable gas import demand is identified, based on two fully decarbonised scenarios for the investigated years 2030, 2040 and 2050. While in one scenario energy efficiency is maximised, in the other scenario significant behavioural changes are considered to reduce the total energy consumption. A techno-economic analysis is used to identify the economically reasonable national green hydrogen potential and to calculate the averaged levelised cost of hydrogen (LCOH 2 ) for each scenario and considered year. Furthermore, roll-out curves for the necessary expansion of national electrolysis plants are presented. The results show that in 2050 about 43% of the national gas demand can be produced nationally and economically (34 TWh green hydrogen, 16 TWh sustainable methane). The resulting national hydrogen production costs are comparable to the expected import costs (including transport costs). The most important actions are the quick and extensive expansion of renewables and electrolysis plants both nationally and internationally.

Keywords: power to gas; electrolysis; green hydrogen; national potential; decarbonisation; scenario analysis; national energy system; techno-economic analysis; levelised cost of hydrogen (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6289/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6289/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6289-:d:648790

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().