Joint ESRI-ESB Seminar by Fabio Bozzolo

Energy policies and the hydrogen industry development: an energy system approach to the additionality rules and other policy mechanisms

Renewable hydrogen has been proposed as a key enabler of a fully decarbonised energy sector. However, current legislation has hindered the development of this new industry by imposing strict rules over the production of hydrogen in several jurisdictions. These rules are deemed necessary to ensure that hydrogen production complies with the environmental standards at the moment of production. In this study, we modelled the Irish energy system transition year of 2035 to evaluate the effectiveness of different policy arrangements in decarbonisation, security of supply and affordability with a minimum cost modelling approach. This work shows that if renewable electricity is developed at an increased rate in the next 10 years, the hydrogen production rules set by current legislation are a suboptimal policy to deliver a decarbonised, secure and affordable energy system. Replacing those rules with an increased carbon price delivers the optimal cost and benefits balance.

Fabio Bozzolo is an energy innovation analyst at ESB Innovation, working at the Emerging Technologies and R&D team, currently pursuing a part-time PhD in mechanical engineering at the University of Galway, supervised by Dr Rory Monaghan (UoG) and Dr Muireann Lynch (ESRI). His works extends from gaseous fermentation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide to energy system modelling with a focus on hydrogen and hydrogen derivatives production policies. At ESB, he is leading the electrofuels initiatives and actively participates in other carbon-neutral and carbon-negative technologies in pursuit of the decarbonisation of the energy system in Ireland.