Electricity-Based Fuel Production: An Assessment of its Impact on the European Power System Considering Flexibility

Against the background of the European climate targets, the energy industries and transportation sector hold large potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Thereby, substituting fossil fuels by electricity-based fuels offers a promising approach for reducing emissions if renewable electricity is used. However, renewable energy sources are, by nature, characterized by intermittent feed-in. Consequently, a need for flexibility arises when integrating electricity-based fuel production processes into the power system. This paper reveals the merit of different flexibility levels of electricity-based fuel production for the power system by investigating effects on relevant parameters. Exemplary simulations show that marginal cost savings within the power system are at their highest with maximum temporal shifts of the additional electricity demand due to electricity-based fuel production of up to two hours. Furthermore, a flexibilization of up to ten percent of the additional electricity demand leads to high average savings, with a determined high of 150 /MWh.