Joint Planning of Electricity Transmission and Hydrogen Transportation Networks

The abundance and uneven distribution of renewable energy might cause congestion and curtailment in electric power systems. Transmission expansions can potentially alleviate transmission congestion and reduce renewable energy curtailment. On the other hand, with the substantial cost reduction of electrolyzer technology and the continuing rise of hydrogen demand, converting surplus renewable energy to hydrogen provides synergistic benefits to electric grid and hydrogen system, but consequently requires joint planning of the two systems. To this end, we propose a joint planning approach for power transmission and hydrogen transportation networks to coordinately optimize the investment and operation of power and hydrogen infrastructure. In our proposed model, detailed truck routing, pipeline, and hydrogen storage are formulated to quantify the hydrogen transportation system flexibility. A robust joint planning approach is also proposed to address various uncertainties from renewable energy, electric load, and hydrogen demand. Our numerical simulation shows the proposed joint planning model can save the total system cost, reduce renewable energy curtailment, and increase the utilization level of transmission lines.