Hot Standby in Ammonia Synthesis Reshapes Market Equilibrium in Renewable P2A Systems: A Potential Game Approach

TL;DR

This paper models how hot standby operation in ammonia synthesis affects market equilibrium in renewable power-to-ammonia systems, showing it improves flexibility, profitability, and market outcomes.

Contribution

It introduces a potential game model incorporating hot standby flexibility and derives an approximate equilibrium using an iterative best-response method.

Findings

Hot standby reduces ammonia synthesis reliance on hydrogen purchases.

Hot standby increases ammonia profit by approximately 20%.

Market equilibrium shifts toward mutually beneficial outcomes with hot standby.

Abstract

Integrating renewable generation, hydrogen production, and renewable ammonia (RA) synthesis into power-to-ammonia (P2A) systems creates interactions across electricity and hydrogen markets. Limited operational flexibility, however, places RA at a disadvantage at the Nash equilibrium (NE). Recent advances in ammonia synthesis reactor design enable hot standby (HSB) operation, improving flexibility but introducing integer decision variables that complicate market equilibrium analysis. To address this challenge, we develop a potential game model and derive a convergent {\epsilon}-approximate equilibrium via an iterative best-response approach. Case studies show that HSB reduces RA's reliance on hydrogen purchases and increases its profit by 20.14%. More importantly, HSB shifts the market equilibrium toward a more mutually beneficial outcome.