Sizing up Hydrogen Storage

Sweden is facing several new challenges regarding the electricity supply in the country. Not only is demand for power expected to rise due to an increasing degree of electrification and the establishment of electricity-intensive industries. The increasing share of intermittent energy also places new challenges on the grid regarding balancing production and demand in the electricity system. A possible solution to handle this development is to introduce energy storage capacity in the grid to a greater extent. Today, however, the expansion of storage capacity is limited due to the high investment cost in the technology. Hence, it is important to find new business models and approaches to enable such investments.

With this background, RISE has started a project that focuses on investigating the potential hydrogen has as energy storage to support the grid when using the storage capacity at hydrogen refuelling stations. As hydrogen-powered vehicles become more common, the number of hydrogen refuelling stations will increase. This opens up opportunities to create multiple advantages in addition to facilitate the need for transport. The question is just how big potential the technology holds? To which extent can hydrogen decrease the need for power transmission not only nationwide but also across the boarders to our neighbouring countries? Could the potential be as big enough to reduce the need for investments in grid reinforcements? By performing data simulations of the future electricity use (with regard to different development scenarios for hydrogen), the purpose of this project is to answer these questions.”