Hydrogen energy storage requirements for solar and wind energy production to account for long-term variability

Abstract

Wind and solar energy production are plagued, in addition to short-term variability, by significant seasonal variability. The aim of this work is to show the variability of wind and solar energy production, and to compute the hydrogen energy storage needed to address this variability while supplying a stable grid. This is the very first work where the extent of the hydrogen energy storage needed to make stable a grid only supplied by wind and solar energy in Australia is computed. An annual grid demand of 570 TWh in Australia may require 327 GW of installed capacity of wind and solar, 809 TWh of non-dispatchable electricity, and 48 TWh of hydrogen energy storage. While the theoretical maximum power of the electrolysers is 267 GW, the average power is only 46 GW, permitting huge savings in electrolysers capacity adopting a high efficiency energy storage such as flow batteries in between wind and solar producers and electrolysers. The power of the hydrogen generators is 167 GW. The outcome aligns seamlessly with the recent evaluation conducted by the Royal Society regarding the energy storage requirements in the United Kingdom by 2050 to fulfil the net zero commitment in a 570 TWh annually stable grid, with hydrogen similarly serving as the primary source.