Title: Scenarios for the role of hydrogen in a future energy system based on renewable energy

Authors: Bent Sorensen

Addresses: Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change, Research Group Energy Environment Climate, Roskilde University, Bld. 11.1, P.O. Box 260, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

Abstract: An all-renewable energy system for a group of North European countries is investigated by temporal simulation of the demand-supply matching for various system configurations. The role of hydrogen technologies for energy storage and fuel cell applications is studied and applied to both stationary and transportation sectors. It is shown that there is scope for considerable amounts of energy trade between the countries, owing to the different endowment of different countries with particular renewable energy sources, and to the particular benefit that intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar can derive from the exchange of power. A smooth energy supply is demonstrated by use of the seasonal reservoir-based hydro components in the northern parts of the region. Comments are also made on the competition between biofuels and hydrogen in the transportation sector.

Keywords: hydrogen storage; power exchange; energy scenarios; hydrogen energy; renewable energy; energy storage; fuel cells; biofuels; transportation sector; simulation; energy trade; Northern Europe; Norway; Sweden; Finland; Denmark; Germany.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNHPA.2008.023103

International Journal of Nuclear Hydrogen Production and Applications, 2008 Vol.1 No.4, pp.287 - 294

Published online: 09 Feb 2009 *

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