The European Union set a 2050 decarbonization target in the Paris Agreement to reduce carbon emissions by 90–95% relative to 1990 emission levels. The path toward achieving those deep decarbonization targets can take various shapes but will surely include a portfolio of economy-wide low-carbon energy technologies/options. The growth of the intermittent renewable power sources in the grid mix has helped reduce the carbon footprint of the electric power sector. Under the need for decarbonizing the electric power sector, we simulated a low-carbon power system. We investigated the role of hydrogen for future electric power systems under current cost projections. The model optimizes the power generation mix economically for a given carbon constraint. The generation mix consists of intermittent renewable power sources (solar and wind) and dispatchable gas turbine and combined cycle units fueled by natural gas with carbon capture and sequestration, as well as hydrogen. We created several scenarios with battery storage options, pumped hydro, hydrogen storage, and demand-side response (DSR). The results show that energy storage replaces power generation, and pumped hydro entirely replaces battery storage under given conditions. The availability of pumped hydro storage and demand-side response reduced the total cost as well as the combination of solar photovoltaic and pumped hydro storage. Demand-side response reduces relatively costly dispatchable power generation, reduces annual power generation, halves the shadow carbon price, and is a viable alternative to energy storage. The carbon constrain defines the generation mix and initializes the integration of hydrogen (H₂). Although the model rates power to gas with hydrogen as not economically viable in this power system under the given conditions and assumptions, hydrogen is important for hard-to-abate sectors and enables sector coupling in a real energy system. This study discusses the potential for hydrogen beyond this model approach and shows the differences between cost optimization models and real-world feasibility.

欧洲联盟在《巴黎协定》中设定了2050年脱碳目标，以相对于1990年的排放水平将碳排放量减少90-95％。实现这些深层脱碳目标的途径可以有多种形式，但必将包括一系列经济领域的低碳能源技术/选择。电网组合中间歇性可再生能源的增长有助于减少电力行业的碳足迹。在电力部门脱碳的需求下，我们模拟了低碳电力系统。在当前的成本预测下，我们研究了氢气在未来电力系统中的作用。该模型在给定的碳约束条件下经济地优化了发电混合。发电混合包括间歇性可再生能源（太阳能和风能）和可调度燃气轮机，以及由天然气，碳捕集和封存以及氢气为燃料的联合循环机组。我们使用电池存储选项，抽水，氢存储和需求方响应（DSR）创建了几种方案。结果表明，在给定条件下，储能代替了发电，而抽水蓄能完全替代了电池。抽水蓄能的可用性和需求方的响应降低了总成本，以及太阳能光伏发电和抽水蓄能的结合。需求方的响应减少了相对昂贵的可调度发电量，减少了年发电量，将影子碳价格降低了一半，并且是能源存储的可行替代方案。₂）。尽管在给定的条件和假设下，该模型将氢气中的动力用氢气评定为在经济上不可行，但氢气对于难以减排的行业很重要，并且可以在实际能源系统中实现行业耦合。这项研究讨论了这种模型方法之外的氢气潜力，并显示了成本优化模型与实际可行性之间的差异。