Business analysis of H2 energy storage solutions under different economic and regulatory contexts.

EU requires a strong commitment from all Member States to meet post-2020 targets. To meet the targets imposed by Europe it is necessary to improve the penetration of the renewables like wind and solar. The main problem associated to the renewables is linked to their intermittency nature, indeed the power produced from solar and wind is subjected to daily and seasonal fluctuations which give rise to a grid stability problem. This will result in produce mismatching between power produced by the renewable energy sources system and requested power from the grid, leading to a period of over-production by the renewable energy sources and other of energy shortage for the users. The issue of intermittency has to be solved and one significant option is developing energy storage solutions that are cost-effective, energy dense, reliable. In the case of isolated micro-grid or off-grid remote areas, the business case of energy storage is different, as the network is essentially non-existent or there is the interest of managing the local network in an independent way. A good solution so, is to integrate the intermittent RES with fuel cell and H_2-based power-to-power (P2P) systems, which can provide a reliable, cost-effective, and decarbonized alternative to the on-site generation of electricity through the local diesel engines. P2P system is seen to be the most credible option, with medium to long-term storage capabilities for the lower scales and maybe soon could be also competitive in the larger one. This thesis will support the EU REMOTE project demonstrating the technical and economic feasibility of fuel cells-based H2 energy storage solutions in isolated and off-grid remote areas. The development of this project will pave the way to create technological learning for the different component of the system, so that the larger energy storage market could be also assessed in the near future with this kind of system. This means that the replicability can be huge especially in countries characterized by long distances and remote communities. Different scenarios have been analyzed through the HyOpt model developed by Sintef to better understand the real value of this system.