Green Hydrogen for Future Energy Demand in Germany

Germany aims to achieve carbon-neutral electricity generation by 2045. As a part of this plan, solar and wind electricity generation is expected to increase significantly. Since renewable energy sources are highly volatile and intermittent, this leads to periods of energy surplus and deficit, resulting in need of energy storage solutions for efficient utilisation of renewable energy sources and grid stabilisation. The current paper proposes the utilisation of hydrogen as an energy storage system to balance the supply and demand dynamics in Germany for 2045 with an electrolyser sizing of 155 GW and a fuel cell sizing of 123 GW as a sustainable and profitable hydrogen system sizing for Germany in 2045. The paper illustrates that, fuel cell and electrolyser sizing can fully compensate for the future power deficit exacerbated by heating electricity and battery electric vehicles charging demand of Germany.