arXiv subjects

Pedro Crespo del Granado

Publications and source records attributed to Pedro Crespo del Granado.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Quantum annealing applications, challenges and limitations for optimisation problems compared to classical solvers

Quantum computing is rapidly advancing, harnessing the power of qubits' superposition and entanglement for computational advantages over classical systems. However, scalability poses a primary challenge for these machines. By implementing a hybrid workflow between classical and quantum computing instances, D-Wave has succeeded in pushing this boundary to the realm of industrial use. Furthermore, they have recently opened up to mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problems, expanding their applicability to many relevant problems in the field of optimisation. However, the extent of their suitability for diverse problem categories and their computational advantages remains unclear. This study conducts a comprehensive examination by applying a selection of diverse case studies to benchmark the performance of D-Wave's hybrid solver against that of industry-leading solvers such as CPLEX, Gurobi, and IPOPT. The findings indicate that D-Wave's hybrid solver is currently most advantageous for integer quadratic objective functions and shows potential for quadratic constraints. To illustrate this, we applied it to a real-world energy problem, specifically the MILP unit commitment problem. While D-Wave can solve such problems, its performance has not yet matched that of its classical counterparts.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

From Policy to Practice: Upper Bound Cost Estimates of Europes Green Hydrogen Ambitions

As the European countries strive to meet their ambitious climate goals, renewable hydrogen has emerged to aid in decarbonizing energy-intensive sectors and support the overall energy transition. To ensure that hydrogen production aligns with these goals, the European Commission has introduced criteria for additionality, temporal correlation, and geographical correlation. These criteria are designed to ensure that hydrogen production from renewable sources supports the growth of renewable energy. This study assesses the impact of these criteria on green hydrogen production, focusing on production costs and technology impacts. The European energy market is simulated up to 2048 using stochastic programming, applying these requirements exclusively to green hydrogen production without the phased-in compliance period outlined in the EU regulations. The findings show that meeting the criteria will increase expected system costs by 82 billion euro from 2024 to 2048, largely due to the rapid shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The additionality requirement, which mandates the use of new renewable energy installations for electrolysis, proves to be the most expensive, but also the most effective in accelerating renewable energy adoption.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2025

European Energy Vision 2060: Charting Diverse Pathways for Europe's Energy Transition

Europe is warming at the fastest rate of all continents, experiencing a temperature increase of about 1°C higher than the corresponding global increase. Aiming to be the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 under the European Green Deal, Europe requires an in-depth understanding of the potential energy transition pathways. In this paper, we develop four qualitative long-term scenarios covering the European energy landscape, considering key uncertainty pillars -- categorized under social, technological, economic, political, and geopolitical aspects. First, we place the scenarios in a three-dimensional space defined by Social dynamics, Innovation, and Geopolitical instabilities. These scenarios are brought to life by defining their narratives and focus areas according to their location in this three-dimensional space. The scenarios envision diverse futures and include distinct features. The EU Trinity scenario pictures how internal divisions among EU member states, in the context of global geopolitical instability, affect the EU climate targets. The REPowerEU++ scenario outlines the steps needed for a self-sufficient, independent European energy system by 2050. The Go RES scenario examines the feasibility of achieving carbon neutrality earlier than 2050 given favourable uncertain factors. The NECP Essentials scenario extends current national energy and climate plans until 2060 to assess their role in realizing climate neutrality. The scenarios are extended by incorporating policies and economic factors and detailed in a Qualitative to Quantitative (Q2Q) matrix, linking narratives to quantification. Finally, two scenarios are quantified to illustrate the quantification process. All the scenarios are in the process of being quantified and will be openly available and reusable.

eess.SY↗

arXiv2023

Decarbonizing the European energy system in the absence of Russian gas: Hydrogen uptake and carbon capture developments in the power, heat and industry sectors

Hydrogen and carbon capture and storage are pivotal to decarbonize the European energy system in a broad range of pathway scenarios. Yet, their timely uptake in different sectors and distribution across countries are affected by supply options of renewable and fossil energy sources. Here, we analyze the decarbonization of the European energy system towards 2060, covering the power, heat, and industry sectors, and the change in use of hydrogen and carbon capture and storage in these sectors upon Europe's decoupling from Russian gas. The results indicate that the use of gas is significantly reduced in the power sector, instead being replaced by coal with carbon capture and storage, and with a further expansion of renewable generators. Coal coupled with carbon capture and storage is also used in the steel sector as an intermediary step when Russian gas is neglected, before being fully decarbonized with hydrogen. Hydrogen production mostly relies on natural gas with carbon capture and storage until natural gas is scarce and costly at which time green hydrogen production increases sharply. The disruption of Russian gas imports has significant consequences on the decarbonization pathways for Europe, with local energy sources and carbon capture and storage becoming even more important.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2022

Powering Europe with North Sea Offshore Wind: The Impact of Hydrogen Investments on Grid Infrastructure and Power Prices

Hydrogen will be a central cross-sectoral energy carrier in the decarbonization of the European energy system. This paper investigates how a large-scale deployment of green hydrogen production affects the investments in transmission and generation towards 2060, analyzes the North Sea area with the main offshore wind projects, and assesses the development of an offshore energy hub. Results indicate that the hydrogen deployment has a tremendous impact on the grid development in Europe and in the North Sea. Findings indicate that total power generation capacity increases around 50%. The offshore energy hub acts mainly as a power transmission asset, leads to a reduction in total generation capacity, and is central to unlock the offshore wind potential in the North Sea. The effect of hydrogen deployment on power prices is multifaceted. In regions where power prices have typically been lower than elsewhere in Europe, it is observed that hydrogen increases the power price considerably. However, as hydrogen flexibility relieves stress in high-demand periods for the grid, power prices decrease in average for some countries. This suggests that while the deployment of green hydrogen will lead to a significant increase in power demand, power prices will not necessarily experience a large increase.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2019

Can models for long-term decarbonization policies guarantee security of power supply? A perspective from gas and power sector coupling

The assessment of adequacy and security of the energy system requires the detailed knowledge of physical and operational characteristics. In contrast, studies concerning energy transitions employ stylized models that oftentimes ignore the technical properties but have a lasting influence on long-term energy policies. This paper investigates the gap between energy system planning and operational models by linking these two perspectives: (1) a long-term investment model with low spatial resolution and high level of aggregation, and (2) a spatially resolved system security model that captures the interdependences between the backbone of the electric power sector, i.e., the electricity and the gas infrastructures. We assess EU decarbonization pathways of the electricity sector towards 2050 by integrating the investment decisions of the long-term planning model and the safety performance of the resulting system operations via the security assessment model. In a large RES deployment scenario, we investigate two flexibility options: gas power plants and cross-country transmission expansion. Using the integrated model, we analyze how the adequacy and security of supply under extreme short-term operational conditions impact the long-term planning of the energy system and the investment decision-making. We provide country specific recommendations for UK. Results indicate weaknesses in the gas-electricity system and suggest improvements on capacity allocation.

eess.SY↗