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Electrical energy storage combined with renewable hydrogen production

Year of publication

2025

Authors

Huhtinen, Sini; Tsupari, Eemeli; Rämä, Miika

Abstract

<p>The applications and need for large-scale, long-duration electrical energy storage are growing as both the share of renewable energy in energy systems and the demand for flexibility increase. One potential application is the renewable hydrogen industry, where temporal matching of renewable electricity generation and hydrogen production will be required in the future according to the new European Union regulations. In this paper, a case study of electrical energy storage utilization in hydrogen production is conducted in the Nordic context, with a high share of wind production. The storage is used in the hydrogen production process for temporal matching. The levelized cost of storage of three medium- to long-term storage technologies is assessed using an Excel-based model, with four case approaches. In the first case approach, the electrolyzer load is inflexible, while the other approaches explore how the flexibility of the electrolyzer and the increase in renewable production capacity affect the size and cost of the storage. Electro-thermal energy storage, based on sand as storage material, presented the lowest levelized cost of storage (114–198 €/MWh) due to its low energy-related investment cost. However, the results show that additional usage purposes for all examined storage technologies are required to avoid high investment costs. Additionally, flexibility from the electrolyzer load and over-investing in renewable capacity is required. In conclusion, storage should not be the only component providing flexibility in the studied system, and it should be used to integrate multiple assets in the wider energy system to reach cost-effectiveness. This paper brings novelty by expanding on the storage technology options considered in previous literature and deepening the perspective of storage as a component in renewable hydrogen production. Future research should assess the effect of electricity prices and emissions allowance prices from the regulatory perspective, which could further reduce the storage investment.</p>
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Organizations and authors

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd

Tsupari Eemeli

Rämä Miika Orcid -palvelun logo

Huhtinen Sini

Publication type

Publication format

Article

Parent publication type

Journal

Article type

Original article

Audience

Scientific

Peer-reviewed

Peer-Reviewed

MINEDU's publication type classification code

A1 Journal article (refereed), original research

Publication channel information

Volume

11

Article number

100922

​Publication forum

90194

​Publication forum level

1

Open access

Open access in the publisher’s service

Yes

Open access of publication channel

Fully open publication channel

License of the publisher’s version

CC BY

Self-archived

No

Other information

Fields of science

Electronic, automation and communications engineering, electronics

Keywords

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Language

English

International co-publication

No

Co-publication with a company

No

DOI

10.1016/j.prime.2025.100922

The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection

Yes