Hydrogen manufacturing on offshore islands may save Germany greater than 4 billion euros per 12 months – TechnoNews

A brand new examine from the Fraunhofer Institute for Power Economics and Power System Know-how IEE has analyzed the financial results on the European power system of introducing offshore hydrogen manufacturing.

The examine considers the enlargement of the German 70 GW buildout goal of offshore wind and examines the financial results by permitting offshore hydrogen manufacturing on two power islands linked with 10 GW offshore wind every, in comparison with a state of affairs the place all electrical energy from offshore wind farms is transported to shore and can be utilized throughout the German power market with out additional restrictions.

The examine concludes that Germany can obtain annual financial savings of as much as 4.3 billion euros by establishing offshore hydrogen manufacturing on two power islands. The 2 power islands have a restricted connection to the ability grid and are situated round +150 kilometers from the shoreline within the German financial zone of the North Sea.

The financial savings are primarily pushed by diminished grid buildout prices, particularly cables from the shoreline to the middle of Germany, in addition to larger utilization of the HVDC cables.

Additional, the examine concludes that producing hydrogen offshore is extra environment friendly than producing hydrogen onshore. The reason being that hydrogen manufacturing intently situated to the renewable power supply reduces power loss and investments in lengthy transportation routes of the electrical energy.

Background of the case examine

The examine commissioned by Copenhagen Power Islands ApS examined two situations up towards the 70 GW buildout of offshore wind.

The primary state of affairs contains solely a hydrogen pipeline connection to the islands with no grid connection. Which means that the whole power produced from the ten GW of offshore wind linked to every power island can be used for hydrogen manufacturing transported to the mainland through a pipeline connection.

The second state of affairs features a restricted grid connection to the power islands along with the hydrogen pipeline connection. The restricted grid connection is an AC connection between the power islands and offshore converter platforms of different wind farms, permitting for export of electrical energy from the power islands to the grid, when there’s free capability within the grid, or import of electrical energy to the power islands.

There are substantial optimistic results of connecting offshore hydrogen manufacturing to the grid through a restricted grid connection. The answer permits for versatile use of the power generated by wind farms, both for use to provide inexperienced hydrogen offshore or to be transported to the mainland through HVDC cables. This creates important effectivity good points for the power system.

In instances of low costs and excessive provide of renewable electrical energy, the electrical energy from offshore wind can be fed into hydrogen manufacturing, whereas in instances when renewable power provide is low and costs are typically larger, offshore electrical energy is used for supplying the electrical energy demand and therefore instantly fed into the German electrical energy grid. This will increase flexibility of the general power system, creating optimistic system results.

Supplied by
Fraunhofer-Institut für Energiewirtschaft und Energiesystemtechnik IEE