The Role of Batteries in Maximizing Green Hydrogen Production with Power Flow Tracing

Hydrogen is currently getting more and more attention in the European climate strategy as a promising enabling technology to decarbonize industry, transport sector and to provide a long-term, high-capacity energy storage solution. However, to truly contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions, hydrogen must be produced respecting a principle of additionality, to ensure that it is produced using renewable energy sources and that its production does not decrease the green energy supplied to other loads. This study tracks the share of renewables generation in the energy mix used to produce hydrogen by applying a power flow tracing technique integrated with an optimal power flow analysis. This method allows the minimization of the system operation costs, while maximizing the green hydrogen production and considering the additionality principle. The system cost function is also modified to include the sizing and allocation of conventional batteries in the grid, and assess their ability to further increase the share of green energy in hydrogen production.