The Role of Hydrogen Storage in an Electricity System with Large Hydropower Resources

Hydrogen is considered one of the key pillars of an effective decarbonization strategy of the energy sector; however, the potential of hydrogen as an electricity storage medium is debated. This paper investigates the role of hydrogen as an electricity storage medium in an electricity system with large hydropower resources, focusing on the Swiss electricity sector. Several techno-economic and climate scenarios are considered. Findings suggest that hydrogen storage plays no major role under most conditions, because of the large hydropower resources. More specifically, no hydrogen storage is installed in Switzerland if today’s values of net-transfer capacities and low load-shedding costs are assumed. This applies even to hydrogen-favorable climate scenarios (dry years with low precipitation and dam inflows) and economic assumptions (high learning rates for hydrogen technologies). In contrast, hydrogen storage is installed when net-transfer capacities between countries are reduced below 30% of current values and load-shedding costs are above 1,000 EUR/MWh. When installed, hydrogen is deployed in a few large-scale installations near the national borders.