A mix of long-duration hydrogen and thermal storage enables large-scale electrified heating in a renewable European energy system

TL;DR

This study examines how integrating heat pumps and thermal storage affects long-duration hydrogen storage needs in a renewable European energy system, highlighting the importance of thermal storage in reducing hydrogen storage requirements amid weather variability.

Contribution

It quantifies the impact of electrified heating and thermal storage on hydrogen storage needs in a fully renewable system, emphasizing the role of weather variability.

Findings

Electrified heating increases LDES needs by over four times.

Thermal storage reduces LDES needs by approximately 36%.

Weather variability significantly influences optimal storage capacities.

Abstract

Hydrogen-based long-duration electricity storage (LDES) is a key component of renewable energy systems to deal with seasonality and prolonged periods of low wind and solar energy availability. In this paper, we investigate how electrified heating with heat pumps impacts LDES requirements in a fully renewable European energy system, and which role thermal storage can play. Using a large weather dataset of 78 weather years, we find that electrified heating significantly increases LDES needs, as optimal average energy capacities more than quadruple across all weather years compared to a scenario without electrified heating. We attribute 75% of this increase to a leverage effect, as additional electric load amplifies storage needs during times of low renewable availability. The remaining 25% are the result of a compound effect, where exceptional cold spells coincide with periods of renewable scarcity. Furthermore, heat pumps increase the variance in optimal storage capacities between weather years substantially because of demand-side weather variability. Long-duration thermal storage attached to district heating networks can reduce LDES needs by on average 36%. To support and safeguard wide-spread heating electrification, policymakers should expedite the creation of adequate regulatory frameworks for both long-duration storage types to de-risk investments in light of high weather variability.