arXiv subjects

Philipp Glaum

Publications and source records attributed to Philipp Glaum.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Minimal Methanol Backstop for High Electrification Scenarios

Electrification of sectors such as land transport and building heating is a cost-effective pathway to deep decarbonization. However, some sectors still require energy-dense fuels -- including aviation, shipping and backup power -- or chemical feedstocks. While a 'hydrogen economy' is often proposed to fill these hard-to-electrify gaps, it faces challenges in transport, storage, and infrastructure coordination. We introduce a 'minimal methanol backstop' to supply residual demand in highly-electrified systems. As a liquid fuel, methanol is easy to store and transport, and avoids infrastructure lock-in. Produced from hydrogen and carbon monoxide, it can help integrate biogenic carbon from decentralized biomass wastes and residues. Using a European energy system model constrained to be carbon-neutral, we show that methanol-based systems increase total system costs by 2.4% relative to hydrogen-based systems, an increase that remains below 6% across sensitivities. We argue that this modest cost premium is justified by reduced infrastructure complexity.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2024

Offshore power and hydrogen networks for Europe's North Sea

The European North Sea has a vast renewable energy potential and can be a powerhouse for Europe's energy transition. However, currently there is uncertainty about how much offshore wind energy can be integrated, whether offshore grids should be meshed and to what extent offshore hydrogen should play a role. To address these questions, we use the open-source energy system optimization model PyPSA-Eur to model a European carbon-neutral sector-coupled energy system in high spatial and temporal resolution. We let the model endogenously decide how much offshore wind is deployed and which infrastructure is used to integrate the offshore wind. We find that with point-to-point connections like we have today, 310 GW offshore wind can be integrated in the North Sea. However, if we allow meshed networks and hydrogen, we find that this can be raised to 420 GW with cost savings up to 15 billion euros per year. Furthermore, we only observe significant amounts of up to 75 GW of floating wind turbines in the North Sea if we have offshore hydrogen production. Generally, the model opts for offshore wind integration through a mix of both electricity and hydrogen infrastructure. However, the bulk of the offshore energy is transported as hydrogen, which is twice as much as the amount transported as electricity. Moreover, we find that the offshore power network is mainly used for offshore wind integration, with only a small portion used for inter-country transmission.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2023

Offshore Wind Integration in the North Sea: The Benefits of an Offshore Grid and Floating Wind

Wind energy has become increasingly important for meeting Europe's energy needs. While onshore wind expansion faces public acceptance problems, for offshore wind the European Commission has introduced ambitious goals to increase capacity from 15GW to 300GW in 2050. Incorporating more offshore wind electricity into the power grid may offer a more widely accepted way to satisfy Europe's energy demand. In particular, the North Sea region has large potential for offshore wind generation. However, to fully exploit the wind potential in the North Sea, the grid integration of offshore wind and floating wind turbines are vital, especially when onshore wind capacity and onshore grid expansion are constrained. For the grid integration, a meshed offshore grid can offer a viable alternative to the standard direct connection of offshore wind parks to the nearest point on land combined with point-to-point HVDC connections. In this paper, we investigate the benefits of having a meshed offshore grid in the North Sea and considering floating wind besides fixed-bottom wind installations. In our analysis, we look at eight different scenarios, where onshore wind potentials and onshore line expansion are limited, to explore the effects of low public acceptance. Our results demonstrate that the presence of an offshore grid can reduce total system costs by up to 2.6 bn Euro/a. In the scenarios with an offshore meshed grid, ~8% more offshore wind capacities are built compared to the scenarios without a meshed grid. Furthermore, the analysis shows that if onshore wind potentials are restricted, floating wind turbines play a key role and compensate for lacking onshore wind capacities.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2023

Leveraging the Existing German Transmission Grid with Dynamic Line Rating

The integration of large shares of wind and solar power into the power system benefits from transmission network expansion. However, the construction of new power lines requires long planning phases and is often delayed by citizen protests. As a non-invasive alternative, Dynamic Line Rating (DLR) offers the potential to leverage the existing grid by dynamically adjusting the transmission line capacities to the prevailing weather conditions. In this study, we present the first investment model that includes DLR in a large-scale power system with real-world network data and a high temporal resolution. Using Germany as an example, we show that a system-wide integration of DLR improves the integration of existing and additional renewables while reducing grid congestion. The evolving synergies between DLR and increased wind generation result in total cost savings of about 3% of all system costs for a scenario with 80% renewable power production, mainly due to reduced storage and solar capacity needs. If considering a fully decarbonized electricity system, the cost savings from DLR amount to up to 5.5% of the system costs, i.e. 4 billion Euro per year. Our results underscore the importance of a rapid implementation of DLR in power systems to support the energy transition and relieve grid congestion.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2022

Enhancing the German Transmission Grid Through Dynamic Line Rating

The German government recently announced that 80\% of the power supply should come from renewable energy by 2030. One key task lies in reorganizing the transmission system such that power can be transported from sites with good renewable potentials to the load centers. Dynamic Line Rating (DLR), which allows the dynamic calculation of transmission line capacities based on prevailing weather conditions rather than conservative invariant ratings, offers the potential to exploit existing grid capacities better. In this paper, we analyze the effect of DLR on behalf of a detailed power system model of Germany including all of today's extra high voltage transmission lines and substations. The evolving synergies between DLR and an increased wind power generation lead to savings of around 400 million euro per year in the short term and 900 million per year in a scenario for 2030.

physics.soc-ph↗