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Gas switching reforming for flexible power and hydrogen production to balance variable renewables

Abstract

Variablerenewableenergy(VRE)isexpectedtoplayamajorroleinthedecarbonizationoftheelectricitysector.However, decarbonization via VRE requires a fleet of flexible dispatchable plants with low CO2emissions tosupplycleanpowerduringtimes withlimitedwindandsunlight.Theseplantswillneedtooperateatreducedcapacity factors with frequent ramps in electricity output, posing techno-economic challenges. This studythereforepresentsaneconomicassessmentofanewnear-zeroemissionpowerplantdesignedforthispurpose.The gas switching reforming combined cycle (GSR-CC) plant can produce electricity during times of low VREoutput and hydrogen during times of high VRE output. This product flexibility allows the plant to operatecontinuously, even when high VRE output makes electricity production uneconomical. Although the CO2avoidancecostoftheGSR-CCplant(€61/ton)wassimilartothebenchmarkpost-combustionCO2captureplantunder baseload operation, GSR-CC clearly outperformed the benchmark in a more realistic scenario wherecontinued VRE expansion forces power plants into mid-load operation (45% capacity factor). In this scenario,GSR-CCpromisesa5%-pointhigherannualizedinvestmentreturnthanthepost-combustionbenchmark.GSR-CCthereforeappearstobeapromisingconceptforafuturescenariowithhighVREmarketshareandCO2prices,provided thatalargemarket forcleanhydrogenisestablished
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Category

Academic article

Language

English

Author(s)

  • Szabolcs Szima
  • Shareq Mohd Nazir
  • Schalk Cloete
  • Shahriar Amini
  • Szabolcs Fogarasi
  • Ana-Maria Cormos
  • Calin-Cristian Cormos

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Industry / Process Technology
  • Babes-Bolyai' University of Cluj-Napoca
  • Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Year

2019

Published in

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

ISSN

1364-0321

Volume

110

Page(s)

207 - 219

View this publication at Norwegian Research Information Repository