Decarbonization

Overview

Decarbonization refers to the adoption of low and/or zero-carbon energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the entire energy system. Examples include:

• the replacement of fossil-fueled electricity generation sources with renewable sources such as solar and wind, and;
•  the replacement of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles with electric (EV) of fuel-cell powered (FCEV) vehicles .

Table 1 outlines the capabilities available in the simulator's energy system modeling classes relevant to various aspects of decarbonization.

Table 1: Energy system modeling capabilities for decarbonization

Class Group	Class	Details
Electric	Generator	Refer to the article Renewable Energy Sources for details of how to model RES using the Generator class.
Electric	Emission	Models emissions such as CO2
Electric	Abatement	Models the mitigation of emissions from fossil-fueled generation sources.
Electric	Power2X	Models the production of 'fuels' from electricity e.g. hydrogen via electrolysis.
Transport	Vehicle	Models either full electric vehicles, hybrids or ICE vehicles powered by Commodity objects which can represent fuels produced from renewable sources.

Beyond these capabilities the simulator offers universal 'building blocks' for modeling practically any technology and process that can be applied to the decarbonization challenge. This article provides a detailed worked example of how to use the Universal classes to model a decarbonization study.

Case Study

Background

Table 2 provides definitions for the abbreviations and technical terms used in this case study.

Term	Description
H2	Hydrogen
LH2	Liquefied Hydrogen
NH3	Ammonia: used as a transport medium for Hydrogen
"upstream"	The electrical generation system
"downstream"	The Hydrogen production and delivery system

This case study has the following parameters:

• Context: A large-scale iron ore mining company is studying the potential for development of renewable generation resources to enable the decarbonization of its fleet of mining trucks while also providing export revenue to the growing global hydrogen market.
• Optimization problem: Identify the least cost / maximum profit solution for development of renewable generation, storage infrastructure (upstream) and of electrolysis and NH₃ synthesis (downstream).
• Key optimization boundary: Achievable solar and wind installed capacities are capped by land availability.

There are three scenarios to consider:

1. Optimal scale under capped upstream and NH₃ route only.
2. Optimal scale under capped upstream and LH₂ route only.
3. Optimal scale and optimal product mix under capped upstream.