Innovative large-scale energy storage technologies and Power-to-Gas concepts after optimization. D7.4: full socio-economic costs and benefits of energy mix diversification and the role of power-to-gas in this regard

Energy mix diversification is a key element of energy security, one of the three main goals of energy policy in the European Union. The more diverse the energy input of a country or region is, the less prone it is to energy security disruptions. In the context of the STORE&GO project therefore one of the societal impacts of Power to Gas (PtG) that has to be accounted for in a social cost benefit analysis (SCBA) is its effect on energy mix diversity, or in a broader sense, energy security. This deliverable analyses What is the contribution of Power-to-Gas to energy mix diversity and more broadly to energy security? Can this development be quantified and preferably be valued?
The energy security contribution of Power to Gas is analysed for four scenarios for Europe until 2050, assuming a CO2 emission reduction of 95 percent. These scenarios are analysed with the JRC-EU-TIMES model, which contains an extensive energy system representation at European scale. Given system optimization, the model shows how the transition to a low carbon system could develop until the year 2050 with a focus on technology choices and associated costs. For each scenario two versions were calculated, one with PtG technologies in place and one without such technologies. Comparing these two scenarios showed the energy security benefit of PtG. Compared to D6.3 [13] a major change is lowering the discount rate used from the business perspectives to-wards the much lower societal discount rate. This increases the use of PtG. Taxes, subsidies and regulation are not optimised to maximize the deployment of PtG, whether this will be desirable is the topic of D7.6.