Integration of Hydrogen and Synthetic Natural Gas within Legacy Power Generation Facilities

German Dominguez-Gonzalez, Jose Ignacio Muñoz-Hernandez, Derek Bunn and Carlos Jesus Garcia-Checa
Additional contact information
German Dominguez-Gonzalez: E.T.S.I.I., University of Castilla-La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Jose Ignacio Muñoz-Hernandez: E.T.S.I.I., University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain
Derek Bunn: London Business School, Sussex Place, Regent’s Park, London NW1 5SA, UK
Carlos Jesus Garcia-Checa: E.T.S.I.I., University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-27

Abstract: Whilst various new technologies for power generation are continuously being evaluated, the owners of almost-new facilities, such as combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants, remain motivated to adapt these to new circumstances and avoid the balance-sheet financial impairments of underutilization. Not only are the owners reluctant to decommission the legacy CCGT assets, but system operators value the inertia and flexibilities they contribute to a system becoming predominated with renewable generation. This analysis therefore focuses on the reinvestment cases for adapting CCGT to hydrogen (H 2 ), synthetic natural gas (SNG) and/or retrofitted carbon capture and utilization systems (CCUS). Although H 2 , either by itself or as part of SNG, has been evaluated attractively for longer-term electricity storage, the business case for how it can be part of a hybrid legacy CCGT system has not been analyzed in a market context. This work compares the power to synthetic natural gas to power (PSNGP) adaptation with the simpler and less expensive power to hydrogen to power (P2HP) adaptation. Both the P2HP and PSNGP configurations are effective in terms of decarbonizations. The best results of the feasibility analysis for a UK application with low CCGT load factors (around 31%) were obtained for 100% H 2 (P2HP) in the lower range of wholesale electricity prices (less than 178 GBP/MWh), but in the higher range of prices, it would be preferable to use the PSNGP configuration with a low proportion of SNG (25%). If the CCGT load factor increased to 55% (the medium scenario), the breakeven profitability point between P2HP and PSNGP decreased to a market price of 145 GBP/MWh. Alternatively, with the higher load factors (above 77%), satisfactory results were obtained for PSNGP using 50% SNG if with market prices above 185 GBP/MWh.

Keywords: power to gas; power to hydrogen to power; synthetic natural gas; power to synthetic natural gas; CCGT (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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