AUTHOR=Carbone Claudio , Gracceva Francesco , Pierro Nicola , Motola Vincenzo , Zong Yi , You Shi , Pérez-Fortes Mar , Wang Ligang , Agostini Alessandro 

TITLE=Potential Deployment of Reversible Solid-Oxide Cell Systems to Valorise Organic Waste, Balance the Power Grid and Produce Renewable Methane: A Case Study in the Southern Italian Peninsula

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Energy Research

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2021.618229

DOI=10.3389/fenrg.2021.618229

ISSN=2296-598X

ABSTRACT=A large market penetration of non-dispatchable renewable power sources (vRES), i.e. wind and photovoltaic, may be hampered by an increasing need for large scale energy storage capacity and challenges in power grid balancing. Novel technologies integrating waste gasification with reversible Solid-Oxide Cell (rSOC) systems are proposed to provide flexible grid balancing services. The rSOC system operated in electrolysis mode uses excess power from vRES to generate hydrogen (H2) which is combined with syngas derived from waste gasification to produce methane (CH4). The rSOC system can also be operated in fuel cell mode by oxidising syngas to produce electricity. In this work a methodology aimed at estimating the potential deployment of a novel rSOC technology in a future power system dominated by intermittent renewables is presented and applied to a well-defined case study. The hourly power grid residual loads (i.e. the difference between load and vRES power generation) and the low-grade organic waste and residues availability, are quantified and matched for the southern Italian peninsula in 2030. The results show that the theoretical grid flexibility needs - about 10 TWh of overproduction and 5 TWh of underproduction in 2030 - might be fully satisfied with the complete disposal of the municipal organic waste generated in 2030 (6.7 Mt) and the production of 1.4–2.4 Mt of renewable CH4, pointing to an intriguing perspective for the deployment of rSOC systems at large scale. The multifunctionality of the system proposed is an added value that can make it a convenient and efficient piece of the puzzle of technologies to invest in a climate-neutral and circular economy. The results and methods here presented are ultimately to be intended as the basis for the estimations of future potential deployment and economic and environmental assessments of competing technologies.