Assessing the Flexibility of Electricity-Gas-Hydrogen Distribution Systems with P2G Units

The future low-carbon power system requires additional flexibility to accommodate the increasing share of intermittent renewable energy sources (RES). Electrolyzers with fast dynamic characteristics are in the spotlight as emerging candidate to provide the much-needed operational flexibility. In particular, hydrogen electrolyzers can convert excess renewable energy into “green hydrogen”, which can then be injected in the gas network. Given this, the presented work first quantifies the impact of gas network constraints on the operation of an electrolyzer. Second, we systematically analyse the flexibility of an electricity-gas-hydrogen system, operated under a VPP-based aggregation setup. The proposed methodology is tested considering real electricity and gas distribution networks. The results highlight the impact of gas network limits on the flexibility potential of an electrolyzer that can be made available to the electrical network.