Economic Dispatch Model of Nuclear High-Temperature Reactor with Hydrogen Cogeneration in Electricity Market

James Richards,Hiroyuki Sato,Nolan Anderson,Xing L Yan,Cristian Rabiti

doi:10.3390/en14248289

Abstract

Hydrogen produced without carbon emissions could be a useful fuel as nations look to decarbonize their electricity, transport, and industry sectors. Using the iodine–sulfur (IS) cycle coupled with a nuclear heat source is one method for producing hydrogen without the use of fossil fuels. An economic dispatch model was developed for a nuclear-driven IS system to determine hydrogen sale prices that would make such a system profitable. The system studied is the HTTR-GT/H2, a design for power and hydrogen cogeneration at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency’s High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor. This study focuses on the development of the economic model and the role that input data plays in the final calculated values. Using a historical price duration curve shows that the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) or breakeven sale price of hydrogen would need to be 98.1 JPY/m3 or greater. Synthetic time histories were also used and found the LCOH to be 67.5 JPY/m3. The price duration input was found to have a significant effect on the LCOH. As such, great care should be used in these economic dispatch analyses to select reasonable input assumptions.

Highlights

IntroductionResearch on hydrogen use, production methods, and economics has increased as countries have begun attempting to reduce their carbon footprints
Before investment decisions are made, each of these sensitivities should be investigated to better understand their feedback. This analysis explored the economics of dispatching a nuclear-IS cogeneration unit
The results demonstrate the economic potential of such a system when compared to only selling electricity

Summary

Introduction

Research on hydrogen use, production methods, and economics has increased as countries have begun attempting to reduce their carbon footprints. Hydrogen offers flexible electricity generation, with the potential to serve as the load following or peaking power units. Hydrogen could be used to shift electricity demand to off-peak hours, acting as a large-scale demand response or energy storage medium. Producing hydrogen via nuclear power and using it as a flexible load resource is being investigated by numerous organizations [1,2,3]. Several of these nuclear hydrogen configurations are currently in development

Results

Discussion

Conclusion