CESI Studies – Italian Hydrogen Strategy: What Impact on the Power System?

As part of the new series of publications called CESI Studies , Italian Hydrogen Strategy: What Impact on the Power System? aims to investigate the impact of the Italian Hydrogen Strategy, developed by the Italian Ministry of the Economic Development (MiSE) on the power system by 2030, comparing different scenarios in the installation of electrolyzers and location of additional renewable energy sources (RES) power plants .

You can download, for free, the full study at the following link .

Hydrogen has a strong potential especially by addressing the so-called “ hard-to-abate sectors ,” such as chemical, heavy industry, and heavy-duty transport, which can hardly be decarbonized through direct electrification. Therefore, large-scale deployment of green hydrogen at a fast pace is key for the EU to achieve its goals in the fight against climate change , on the path of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% (compared to the GHG emissions in 1990) by 2030, in a cost-effective way.

In this respect, the Italian preliminary National Hydrogen Strategy envisions that, through a series of initiatives, Italy can produce enough green hydrogen to cover 2% of the energy demand forecast by 2030 in the country, which would require about 5 GW of electrolyzers by 2030, for an investment of around € 10 billion. As a result, Italy should benefit from a CO2 reduction of 8 Mton by 2030, as well as the creation of 200,000 temporary jobs and 10,000 permanent jobs .

Within this context, the CESI study aims to explain how 2% of the energy demand forecast by 2030 in Italy, equivalent to 0.7 Mton/yr., could be met by green hydrogen within the end of this decade. Moreover, in order to attain this objective, the present study assesses how 5 GW of electrolyzers by 2030 should be geographically placed across the Italian territory to produce green hydrogen in order to reach the 2% energy demand goal.

In order to do so, CESI examines four possible implementation scenarios : Decentralized off-grid scenario; Decentralized grid-connected scenario; Grid-connected transport of electricity scenario; Grid-connected transport of hydrogen scenario.

The analysis of these scenarios highlights which are the most economically efficient solutions to produce hydrogen, also indicating the related costs. A particular focus is placed on the comparison between the transport of hydrogen through pipelines and the transport of energy on the electricity grid. To read these and other results, please click on the following link .