Universität zu Köln

Schlund, David ORCID: 0000-0001-5694-6012 (2024). Essays on the Economics of Hydrogen as an Energy Carrier. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

PDF Dissertation_DavidSchlund.pdf Download (20MB)

Abstract

The thesis presents four essays concerning specific issues when introducing hydrogen as an energy carrier. While being a very versatile and promising future energy carrier, the advent of hydrogen as an energy commodity faces several barriers, such as immature technologies, lacking infrastructure for storage and transportation, and a cost gap in competition with fossil energy carriers, even when including carbon prices. The first essay analyses the effects of a quota for renewable hydrogen and synthetic methane on EU electricity and natural gas markets. The analysis uses two separate partial-equilibrium models for the European electricity and gas markets. The model simulations show a substantial expansion of renewable generation capacity in order to serve additional electricity demand from power-to-gas plants. Quota-obliged gas consumers, mainly households and commercial and small industrial consumers carry the highest burden associated with the obligation. The production of clean hydrogen with grid-connected electrolyzers can potentially lead to unwanted side-effects, such as increased CO2 emissions in the power sector unless the electricity generation mix is not entirely renewable-based. The second essay presents a model framework including a mixed-integer linear program and a Markovchain Monte Carlo simulation for stochastic electricity prices to assess a grid-connected electrolyzer’s dispatch. The results show that a simultaneity obligation between renewable electricity and hydrogen production reduces the CO2 emission intensity of hydrogen while constraining profits. Regulations aiming at the interface between hydrogen and electricity must consider the trade-off between economic viability, full load hours, and associated emissions of electricity-based hydrogen. In the third essay a linear optimization model for natural gas transportation in Europe is extended to analyze integrated natural gas and hydrogen transportation. The model optimizes investments in cross-border pipelines for hydrogen through newly built or repurposed pipelines, hydrogen import, and storage infrastructure. The case study finds a dominant role of the availability of renewable energy in shaping the network. Also, providing flexibility through time-varying imports, flexible production, or hydrogen storage becomes an essential element in a future hydrogen supply chain. The model presented in the fourth essay builds on the assumption of hydrogen trade emerging with long term contracts (LTC) and simulates global trade for a range of policy and technology scenarios to assess the effects on trade patterns. The findings suggest that LTC trade exhibits two-way trade as vintages of contracts overlap in a market defined by endogenous innovation and policy interventions. Trade costs and the mode of transportation (pipelines or ammonia conversion) play a pivotal role and influence the relative share of hydrogen production types (green, blue, or turquoise). The analysis shows that trade with expansive use of LTCs looks quite different from conventional merchandise international trade

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schlund, David UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-5694-6012 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-733704
Date:	2024
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Management, Economy and Social Sciences
Divisions:	Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences > Economics > Microeconomics, Institutions and markets > Professorship for Energy and Environmental Economics
Subjects:	Economics
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language energy economics English hydrogen English hydrogen economy English hydrogen trade English gas transmission network English regulation English
Date of oral exam:	8 July 2024
Referee:	Name Academic Title Bettzüge, Marc Oliver Prof. Dr. Ruhnau, Oliver Jun.-Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/73370