New scenarios on the potential role of hydrogen in the future Swiss electricity system
Hydrogen and e-fuels and their potential role in future energy systems are hotly debated topics. Using The modelling platform Nexus-e, a team of researchers at the Energy Science Center at ETH has looked at the potential role of imported or domestic hydrogen or e-methane for the Swiss electricity system guided by three main research questions.
- At which price would imported synthetic fuels be used to supply electricity?
- Under which conditions does seasonal storage with synthetic fuels become a cost-effective solution for Switzerland?
- What is the cost of producing synthetic fuels in Switzerland under given production targets?
Their results show that low import prices are needed for hydrogen or e-methane to play a role in the Swiss electricity market. Furthermore, they find that domestically produced hydrogen will likely not be competitive enough to be used for electricity generation in Switzerland. Lastly, the authors also show that domestic production of synthetic fuels is subject to diseconomies of scale – costs increase with higher production targets.
A detailed description of the project and its results can be found external pagehere.