Future business cases for chemical storage technologies in Switzerland

Abstract

Ambitious climate targets entitle for smart strategies and innovative technologies in order to decarbonize the electricity generation, transport and heat supply sector during the upcoming decades. Power-to-X (P2G, P2H, P2P) conversion systems can encourage the switch from fossil fuels by providing the possibility to store surplus energy from intermittent sources in the form of hydrogen or synthetic natural gas (SNG). In this thesis techno-economic optimization tool was developed to asses power-to-X systems which was used in modular, dynamic and scalable models for constituent components. The objective is to carry out the optimization at high temporal resolution for life-cycle systems as well as to optimize plant design and assess the business potential of ESI (100 kW) platform and other future price-taking projects which will ease the modeling and optimization process of P2X. A P2X facility in Switzerland can function in numerous different configurations depending on technical site-specific and economic circumstances. For the purposes of this study, different operating scenarios have been identified to understand the full range of the technology’s value creation potential. As described in detail hereafter, these scenarios represent different combinations of seven main parameters and variables: source of electricity, prices of commodities on the market, investment costs, type of product gas, solar power capacity, and operating mode, annual profit and Equity IRR.