MIT – MITEI researchers show that hydrogen generated electricity is a cost-competitive candidate for backing up wind and solar.
As the United States races to achieve its goal of zero-carbon electricity generation by 2035, energy providers are swiftly ramping up renewable resources such as solar and wind.
But because these technologies churn out electrons only when the sun shines and the wind blows, they need back up from other energy sources, especially during seasons of high electric demand. Currently, plants burning fossil fuels, primarily natural gas, fill in the gaps.
Emre Gençer, a research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI).
As we move to more and more renewable penetration, this intermittency will make a greater impact on the electric power system.
That’s because grid operators will increasingly resort to fossil-fuel-based “peaker” plants that compensate for the intermittency of the variable renewable energy (VRE) sources of sun and wind. “If we’re to achieve zero-carbon electricity, we must replace all greenhouse gas-emitting sources,” Gençer says.
Low- and zero-carbon alternatives to greenhouse-gas emitting peaker plants are in development, such as arrays of lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen power generation.
But each of these evolving technologies comes with its own set of advantages and constraints, and it has proven difficult to frame the debate about these options in a way that’s useful for policy makers, investors, and utilities engaged in the clean energy transition.
Now, Gençer and Drake D. Hernandez SM ’21 have come up with a model that makes it possible to pin down the pros and cons of these peaker-plant alternatives with greater precision. Their hybrid technological and economic analysis, based on a detailed inventory of California’s power system, was published in the July 6, 2021 online edition of Applied Energy (with an October 2021 print publication date).
While their work focuses on the most cost-effective solutions for replacing peaker power plants, it also contains insights intended to contribute to the larger conversation about transforming energy systems.
Drake D. Hernandez.
Our study’s essential takeaway is that hydrogen-fired power generation can be the more economical option when compared to lithium-ion batteries—even today, when the costs of hydrogen production, transmission, and storage are very high.
Hernandez, who worked on the study while a graduate research assistant for MITEI. Adds Gençer,
“If there is a place for hydrogen in the cases we analyzed, that suggests there is a promising role for hydrogen to play in the energy transition.”
READ the latest news shaping the hydrogen market at Hydrogen Central
Making the case for hydrogen in a zero-carbon economy, August 24, 2021
