Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England

Alternative fuels are necessary to achieve decarbonization, especially of sectors outside of electricity supply. Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier due to its flexibility of storage and transmission and applicability to a wide range of sectors. We model a case study of New England to investigate...

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Main Author: Landler, Anna
Other Authors: Amin, Saurabh
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2023
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150150
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author Landler, Anna
author2 Amin, Saurabh
author_facet Amin, Saurabh
Landler, Anna
author_sort Landler, Anna
collection MIT
description Alternative fuels are necessary to achieve decarbonization, especially of sectors outside of electricity supply. Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier due to its flexibility of storage and transmission and applicability to a wide range of sectors. We model a case study of New England to investigate how infrastructure might be adapted and built out to support such a system. We then incorporate a model of the current electrical system to investigate synergies between the two. We find that projected technology improvements are insufficient to promote electrolysis at the utility scale. Further cost reductions in electrolysis or cheap imports of clean energy will be needed. Notably, SMR with CCS is a dominant method of meeting hydrogen demand; the specifics of CCS are an important avenue for future work. We find that the region is very sensitive to availability and cost imports. As such, any considerations for energy development in New England ought to be put in context of developments in the surrounding areas.
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spelling mit-1721.1/1501502023-04-01T03:51:26Z Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England Landler, Anna Amin, Saurabh Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Alternative fuels are necessary to achieve decarbonization, especially of sectors outside of electricity supply. Hydrogen is a promising energy carrier due to its flexibility of storage and transmission and applicability to a wide range of sectors. We model a case study of New England to investigate how infrastructure might be adapted and built out to support such a system. We then incorporate a model of the current electrical system to investigate synergies between the two. We find that projected technology improvements are insufficient to promote electrolysis at the utility scale. Further cost reductions in electrolysis or cheap imports of clean energy will be needed. Notably, SMR with CCS is a dominant method of meeting hydrogen demand; the specifics of CCS are an important avenue for future work. We find that the region is very sensitive to availability and cost imports. As such, any considerations for energy development in New England ought to be put in context of developments in the surrounding areas. M.Eng. 2023-03-31T14:35:53Z 2023-03-31T14:35:53Z 2023-02 2023-02-27T18:43:21.797Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150150 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright MIT http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Landler, Anna
Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England
title Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England
title_full Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England
title_fullStr Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England
title_full_unstemmed Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England
title_short Capacity Expansion Modeling of Hydrogen and Electricity with Sector Coupling in New England
title_sort capacity expansion modeling of hydrogen and electricity with sector coupling in new england
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/150150
work_keys_str_mv AT landleranna capacityexpansionmodelingofhydrogenandelectricitywithsectorcouplinginnewengland