Author(s): Walker, I., Stewart, A., Staw, T. and Tiniou, E.
Published: 2016
Publisher: ETI
The project aims to improve the understanding of the opportunity for and implications of moving to more integrated multi vector energy networks in the future. Future energy systems could use infrastructure very differently to how they are employed today. Several individual energy vectors - electricity, gas and hydrogen - are capable of delivering multiple services and there are other services that can be met or delivered by more than one vector or network.
This document is submitted as Deliverable 2.1 under the ETI’s Multi-vector Integration Project
The material is adapted from the presentation provided to the project steering group at the WP2 Case Study definitions workshop held in London on August 2nd 2016
The main objectives of this workshop were to:
For each case, agree the system configurations of multi-vector (MV) and single-vector (SV) instances
Discuss the degrees of freedom available in each case that can be used to optimise the MV and SV configurations
Agree the expected outputs from the modelling that will be used to calculate the multi-vector case benefit
Discuss the inputs required for each case and for the “global scenarios” and the data sources tobe used
Agree the exogenous parameters of interest for each MV solution model
The shortlist was: -
Domestic scale heat pumps and peak gas boilers.
Gas CHP and Heat Pumps supplying district heating and individual building heating loads.
PHEV switching fuel demand from electricity to petrol or diesel.
RES to H2/RES to CH4
RES to DH and Distributed Smart Heating (“virtual” DH networks)
Anaerobic Digestion/Gasification to CHP or grid injection
The Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) has engaged PPA Energy to provide consultancy support to gain insight into the operational expenditure (opex) of energy networks, including four energy vectors; electricity, gas, heat and hydrogen. This project builds on a previous project undertaken by PPA Energy, ‘Opex Framework for Energy Infrastructure’, in which an understanding of the opex costs associated with the energy infrastructure was developed. The intention of this project is to understand and document the factors which affect, or may affect, the opex costs of an energy network, and to investigate how these might be modelled. Specifically, this project concentrates on the components of network opex that are directly related to the network assets themselves, knownwithin this report as ‘Network Related Opex’, which includes direct opex, closely associated indirect opex, and the components of pass through opex that are considered to be related to the network assets themselves, but does not include depreciation or business support costs
With increasing utilisation of renewable energy sources there are many cases where the ability to site generation within easy reach of demand becomes more limited. In these situations, how the energy is moved from where it is generated to where it is needed becomes a more critical aspect of the overall energy system. More remote locations are more costly to connect to transmission lines, be they electricity networks or pipelines. At the same time the intermittency of renewable energy sources places a greater emphasis on the use of energy storage to balance the different variations in supply and demand over time. Transporting stored energy is one possible way to address both of these concerns simultaneously.
In deciding whether to support the development of transportable energy storage technologies, the ETI needed access to a thoughtful and factual analysis that considers allthe relevant factors and identifies where transportable energy storage is most likely to be beneficial and what cost and performance targets would need to be met to justify the development of potential technologies to deliver transmission scale transportable storage.
Three sources of generation were considered within this project:
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) generated in the Sahara to be imported to theUK;
Wind energy generated in the Outer Hebrides to be imported to the UK; and
Wind energy generated in the Orkney Islands to be exported to Norway
Key findings of the study are:
Electricity transmission represents the least cost solution if electrical energy is required at the demand site
Chemical energy carriers do however compare favourably with electricity transmission where they can be used directly
With increasing utilisation of renewable energy sources there are many cases where the ability to site generation within easy reach of demand becomes more limited. In these situations, how the energy is moved from where it is generated to where it is needed becomes a more critical aspect of the overall energy system. More remote locations are more costly to connect to transmission lines, be they electricity networks or pipelines. At the same time the intermittency of renewable energy sources places a greater emphasis on the use of energy storage to balance the different variations in supply and demand over time. Transporting stored energy is one possible way to address both of these concerns simultaneously.
Key findings of the study are:
Electricity transmission represents the least cost solution if electrical energy isrequired at the demand site
Chemical energy carriers do however compare favourably with electricitytransmission where they can be used directly
The use of electro-chemical energy storage media (i.e. a Zinc-Air Battery/shipconcept) is unlikely to represent an economically viable concept as the cost ofelectricity delivered is over six times that of the baseline transmission option
