Investigating the economic value of nuclear-hydrogen

由于能源系统中发电组合的特点是可再生能源（RES）发电的渗透率越来越高，能源不平衡变得越来越普遍，在缺乏灵活和具有成本效益的存储形式的情况下，缓解能源不平衡的成本可能更高。天然气和其他化石燃料传统上在不同的时间尺度上提供了必要的灵活性即使系统已经变得越来越容易受到来自RES的发电的可变性的影响，也可以将（夜间到季节性）的能量传递到系统。然而，追求净零目标需要减少天然气的使用，并需要考虑其他技术或机制，以保证弹性和灵活性为了应对这些技术和经济挑战，该项目将建立一个现有的时间序列比较模型，该模型将计算一系列情景下GB系统中的能源不平衡，并考虑缓解这些不平衡所需的各种条件的作用和特征，例如，所需的过夜储存水平。该模型由伯明翰大学的能源信息学小组开发，将适合扩展到包括其他发电技术（除了风能，太阳能和核能）和潜在的存储技术，包括氢和互联网。还将使用经济建模，以评估不同发电和储能技术为系统提供的价值，以及与不同类型的发电组合相关的更广泛的成本，这些发电组合能够解决不同时间范围（短期，季节性和长期）的模拟系统不平衡。经济分析还将包括对不同技术选择所需投资的净现值进行评估，在该项目中，核电将被视为一种潜在的电力和灵活性来源。考虑将核能与氢气作为天然气的可能替代品的原因有很多，其中包括核能的相关二氧化碳排放量较低，以及其产生可预测电量的能力（与可再生能源不同），尽管其灵活性不如天然气。此外，考虑到核电及其与氢经济的接口，将允许在系统不需要时存储基本负荷电力，或者例如通过注入天然气网络并在季节性时间范围内存储用于季节性供暖，从而增加这种燃料的灵活性选择。因此，该项目的潜在领域扩展到不仅考虑电力系统内的平衡，而且考虑紧急净零能源系统的平衡。因此，该项目可能会考虑如何将核电转化为氢气，不仅提供储存和平衡的机会，而且还可以通过提供储存和消耗核电能源的替代载体来增加核投资的回报和价值。从本质上讲，该项目将探讨核能在向净零过渡和超越净零的过程中对更广泛的能源系统的作用、成本和潜在价值。可替代能源--一种评估核能与氢对GB能源系统的经济成本和效益的工具--GB能源系统中能源不平衡的模型，包括可使用氢转化设施的核电站

As the generation mix in energy systems is characterised by an increasing penetration of generation from renewable energy sources (RES) energy imbalances are becoming more prevalent and potentially more costly to mitigate in the absence of flexible and cost-effective forms of storage. Natural gas and other fossil fuels have traditionally provided the necessary level of flexibility over different timescales (overnight to seasonal) to the system even as the system has become increasingly subject to the variability of generation from RES. However, the pursuit of Net Zero objectives requires a reduction in the use of natural gas and the need to consider other technologies or mechanisms that can guarantee the resilience and flexibility required to underpin the effective operation of Britain's energy system.In order to address these technological and economic challenges the project will build from an existing time-series comparison model which calculates energy imbalances in the GB system under a range of scenarios and considers the role and characteristics of various conditions required to mitigate these imbalances, e.g., the level of overnight storage required. This model was developed by the Energy Informatics Group at the University of Birmingham and will be suitable to be extended to include additional electrical generation technologies (in addition to wind, solar and nuclear) and potential storage technologies including hydrogen and interconnectors. Economic modelling will also be used in order to assess the value provided by the different generation and storage technologies to the system and the wider costs associated with different types of generation mixes able to address the simulated system imbalances at different time horizons (short term, seasonal and long term). The economic analysis will also involve an evaluation of the net present value (NPV) of investment required for different technological options.In this project nuclear power will be considered as a potential source of both power and flexibility. The reasons for considering nuclear with hydrogen as a possible alternative to natural gas are numerous.These include nuclear power's lower associated CO2 emissions and its ability to generate predictable amount of power (unlike RES), albeit in a less flexible way than with natural gas. Furthermore, the consideration of nuclear power and its interface with the hydrogen economy will allow for the possibility to store baseload power when not needed by the system or, for example, to be used for seasonal heating via injection into the gas network and storage over seasonal timeframes, increasing the flexibility options for this fuel. Thus, this project's potential domain extends to consideration of balancing not only within the electricity system, but across an emergent net zero energy system. As such, the project would potentially consider how conversion of nuclear based electricity into hydrogen not only provides storage and balancing opportunities but may also increase the return to and value of nuclear investments, by providing alternative vectors for storing and consuming energy derived from nuclear power. In essence, the project will explore the role, costs and potential value of nuclear to the wider energy system in its transition to net-zero and beyond.Deliverables-A tool for assessing economic costs and benefits of nuclear power with hydrogen to the GB energy system-A model of energy imbalances in the GB energy system which includes nuclear plants with access to hydrogen conversion facilities