Power-to-gas and Power-to-liquids for Managing Renewable Electricity Intermittency in the Alpine Region

Mesfun, S., Sanchez, D.L., Leduc, S., & Kraxner, F. (2015). Power-to-gas and Power-to-liquids for Managing Renewable Electricity Intermittency in the Alpine Region. In: Systems Analysis 2015 - A Conference in Celebration of Howard Raiffa, 11 -13 November, 2015, Laxenburg, Austria.

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Abstract

Large-scale deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) can play a central role in reducing CO2 emissions from energy supply systems, but intermittency from solar and wind technologies present grid integration challenges. High temperature co-electrolysis of steam and CO2, in the so-called power-to-gas (PtG) and power-to-liquid (PtL) configuration, could provide a path for utilizing the excess intermittent electricity from a power system by converting it into chemical fuels that can be directly utilized in other sectors, such as transportation and heating. The chemical fuels could also be used in the power sector during periods of deficit in supply.
Here, we study the economic and engineering potential of PtG/PtL systems deployment as storage for intermittent renewable electricity and as a source of low-carbon heating and transportation energy among the different energy sectors in the Alpine region, using the BeWhere model, a geographic explicit cost minimization model.
Preliminary results indicate large-scale deployment of the PtG/PtL technologies for producing chemical fuels from excess intermittent electricity is feasible, particularly when incentivized by carbon prices. In addition, large volumes of captured CO2, as much as 30 Mt CO2 /year are utilized in the synthesis of the chemical fuels, providing as much as 23% of liquid transportation fuels. In this context, it can be concluded that PtG/PtL technologies can enable greater integration of RES into the energy supply chain, with application worldwide.

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