Abstract
A complete thermo-economic analysis on a cutting-edge Power-to-Gas system that comprises innovative technologies (a Solid Oxide Electrolyte Cell co-electrolyzer and an experimental methanator) and coupled with a renewable generator is provided in this study. The conducted economic analysis (which has never been applied to this typology of system) is aimed at the estimation of the synthetic natural gas cost of a product through a cash flow analysis. Various plant configurations—with different operating temperatures and pressure levels of the key components (electrolyzer: 600–850 °C; 1–8 bar)—are compared to identify possible thermal synergies. Parametric investigations are performed, to assess both the effect of the thermodynamic arrangements and of the economic boundary conditions. Results show that the combination of a system at ambient pressure and with a thermal synergy between the co-electrolyzer and the high-temperature methanator presents the best economic performance (up to 8% lower synthetic natural gas value). The production cost of the synthetic natural gas obtained by the Power-to-Gas solutions in study (up to 80% lower than the natural gas price) could become competitive in the natural gas market, if some techno-economic driving factors (proper size ratio of the storage system and the renewable generation, electrolytic cell cost developments and introduction of a carbon tax) are considered.
Highlights
Introduction iationsIn line with the energy supply security, environmental and economic goals of the European Union, among the several pathways to increase the penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) into the European energy system, the so-called Power-to-Gas (P2G) [1]represents a promising solution
The considered configurations are compared by means of different energy and economic performance parameters; in particular, preliminary results of the synthetic natural gas (SNG) economic value are shown in a reference techno-economic scenario
The values of renewable energy utilization factor are quite similar for the different configurations; this index is equal to about 74% for both the pressurized systems; in general, almost three quarters of the available renewable generation is used by the storage system
Summary
The thermodynamic setting of the P2G system has been optimized in [13], in which different layout arrangements have been investigated and compared; in particular, it has been found that the best performing arrangement is the one with the SOEC and the experimental HTM both operating at the same temperature (600 ◦ C, i.e., an intermediate value between thermal levels characteristic of high temperature SOEC and of conventional methanation reactors) This result represents the starting point of this study, and it is a desirable operating condition for the SOEC in order to reduce the overall plant temperature and cost. The results of the simulations for the P2G system under different boundary conditions through the off-design model represent the thermodynamic input data for the economic analysis carried out in this study
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