Remote Renewable Hubs for Carbon-Neutral Synthetic Fuel Production

Abstract

This paper studies the economics of carbon-neutral synthetic fuel production from renewable electricity in remote areas where high-quality renewable resources are abundant. To this end, a graph-based optimisation modelling framework directly applicable to the strategic planning of remote renewable energy supply chains is proposed. More precisely, a hypergraph abstraction of planning problems is introduced, wherein nodes can be viewed as optimisation subproblems with their own parameters, variables, constraints and local objective. Nodes typically represent a subsystem such as a technology, a plant or a process. Hyperedges, on the other hand, express the connectivity between subsystems. The framework is leveraged to study the economics of carbon-neutral synthetic methane production from solar and wind energy in North Africa and its delivery to Northwestern European markets. The full supply chain is modelled in an integrated fashion, which makes it possible to accurately capture the interaction between various technologies on an hourly time scale. Results suggest that the cost of synthetic methane production and delivery would be slightly under 150 €/MWh (higher heating value) by 2030 for a system supplying 10 TWh annually and relying on a combination of solar photovoltaic and wind power plants, assuming a uniform weighted average cost of capital of 7%. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is also carried out in order to assess the impact of various techno-economic parameters and assumptions on synthetic methane cost, including the availability of wind power plants, the investment costs of electrolysis, methanation and direct air capture plants, their operational flexibility, the energy consumption of direct air capture plants, and financing costs. The most expensive configuration (around 200 €/MWh) relies on solar photovoltaic power plants alone, while the cheapest configuration (around 88 €/MWh) makes use of a combination of solar PV and wind power plants and is obtained when financing costs are set to zero.

Simulation of Spatial Service Range and Value of Carbon Sink Based on Intelligent Urban Ecosystem Management System and Net Present Value Models—An Example from the Qinling Mountains

“…At present, most of the research related to carbon neutrality at home and abroad focus on new technologies and energy transition, for example, the improvement of cryogenic energy storage technology needed in the process of carbon neutralization in the refrigeration and power supply industry [53], the development of biofuel production technology in the European Union [54], the carbon-neutral transformation planning study of the power system in New York [55], the evaluation study of the carbon neutral potential of CO 2 removal in Europe [56], the realization method study of a carbon neutral campus [57], and the carbon-neutral and livable health and urban transportation planning path [58]. Most research in China is also focused on carbon-neutral technologies and energy transition [59].…”

Recent advances in direct air capture by adsorption

“…83 Because a DAC facility can provide on-site CO 2 generation anywhere, its application is advantageous in addition to its environmental benefits. Recently, the potential application of adsorption-based DAC in indoor air removal, 115,191,193,208,209 CO 2 fertilization, 178,210 biomass production, [211][212][213][214][215] fuel production (CH 4 , 68,70,75,[216][217][218][219][220][221][222] methanol, 71,[223][224][225][226] aviation fuel, 73,[227][228][229][230][231][232] hydrocarbons 233 ), chemicals (Fischer-Tropsch process, 234,235 carbon nanotubes, 236 dimethyl carbonate, 237 syngas 238,239 ), mineralization, [240][241][242][243][244] storage, 245,246 enhanced oil recovery (EOR), …”

“…71,217,220,226,230 Emphasis was also given to the cost of using different renewable energies and the inflexibility of processes, such as DAC, water desalination, and fuel synthesis. Berger et al 219 studied methane production in North Africa using a combination of solar and wind energy as well as its delivery to northwestern European markets. Sensitivity analysis showed that the full electricity supply from solar PV was more expensive than that in the combination case.…”

“…235 Curtailment was observed due to the inflexible processes despite the consideration of various storage nodes; thus, relaxing the inflexibility was presumed to have a pronounced impact on the plant design. 219,230 A more complicated study considered different chemical production routines such as the FA-routine and direct-routine for OME 1 production. Thus, the most energyefficient and environmentally beneficial combination could be identified.…”

Assessment of future wind speed and wind power changes over South Greenland using the Modèle Atmosphérique Régional regional climate model

“…Because of the low local demand, exploiting the renewable energy potential of a remote resource-ful area allows a large part of the generated electricity to be directly exported to high-demanding regions. Secondly, the concept of "remote renewable hubs" suggests that this electricity could be used to produce on-site carbon-neutral synthetic fuels that are then to be exported as well to highdemanding regions, as discussed in Berger et al (2021).…”