Simulation of a Hybrid Short-Term & Long-Term Energy Storage System in Energy Communities

Abstract

The Paris agreement has set European countries on a path towards decarbonization of the energy market. Due to the high dependence of natural gas in the Netherlands, various challenges will be faced when facing out fossil fuels. The major drawback of RES is that they are non-dispatchable, meaning their output generation fluctuates over time with respect to weather conditions, resulting in a temporal mismatch of supply and demand. In order to allow shifting of non-dispatchable loads, short-term and long-term energy storage is required. The objective of this research was the implementation of a self-sufficient hybrid storage system in energy communities, including renewable energy generation, short-term and long-term energy storage. A simulation was conducted to form a techno-economic analysis of the system. The results from this simulation showed that the minimization of total costs is obtained by minimizing the capacities of the hydrogen system, as these represent the most expensive components of the system, and maximizing the PV generation, as it is the cheapest component throughout the lifetime. However, the results showed very high costs due to the high costs associated with the hydrogen system, which makes these systems with hydrogen storage impossible to compete with traditional fossil fuel sources. The electricity prices for households of the energy coming from the fuel cell can be greater than three times the electricity price of the national grid