HYEBRID

The EWI answers these questions with the in-house optimization model HYEBRID (Hydrogen and Electricity market model with broad representation of weather variability and Import Decisions). The model represents the integrated development of the European electricity and hydrogen system and determines cost-optimal investment and dispatch decisions, taking into account weather uncertainties, infrastructure restrictions, and international trade relations.

HYEBRID for Consulting and Research

HYEBRID enables a consistent analysis of the interactions between the electricity and hydrogen markets and shows how regulatory frameworks, import strategies, and flexibility options affect system costs, infrastructure needs, and market equilibria.

HYEBRID in Practice:

• Transformation paths: develop cost-optimal scenarios up to 2050
• Infrastructure planning: sizing electrolysis, storage, and import capacities
• Market analyses: examine price developments and market equilibria in the electricity and hydrogen markets
• Import strategies: assess hydrogen imports and their influence on security of supply and costs
• Regulatory assessment: analyze the influence of political targets and regulatory conditions on possible transformation paths

HYEBRID in Detail

HYEBRID is a linear optimization model with a two-stage solution approach that minimizes the total costs of the energy system. These consist of investment costs for capacities as well as variable generation and operating costs. In the first step, the model determines investment decisions on the basis of representative days, which are derived from historical weather years by means of clustering; this reduces complexity without losing the structural properties of demand and generation profiles. In the second step, HYEBRID optimizes the dispatch decisions at high temporal resolution and thus represents the realistic operation of the energy system.

HYEBRID covers the entire value chain of the hydrogen system, including domestic production through electrolysis, storage (e.g. in salt caverns and pore storage), intra-European transport, as well as imports from non-European regions via pipelines and terminals. At the same time, HYEBRID models the electricity sector with renewable and conventional generation technologies in detail. A central focus lies on the integrated optimization of both sectors: the interactions between the electricity and hydrogen markets are determined endogenously, so that system-wide efficiency potentials and flexibilities are optimally used. In addition, HYEBRID explicitly takes into account uncertainties and volatilities of weather-dependent renewable energies based on 35 historical weather years, in order to derive robust investment and dispatch decisions under varying climatic conditions. In addition to the deterministic variant, HYEBRID can also be used stochastically, with boundary conditions such as the weather assumed to be uncertain.

Schematic Representation of the Model

The spatial coverage of HYEBRID comprises the EU member states (excluding Bulgaria, Malta, and Cyprus) as well as the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland. The development of the energy system is modeled in strategic target years up to the year 2050. The temporal resolution is differentiated by sector: while the electricity system is represented in hourly steps, the modeling of the hydrogen market is carried out on a daily basis.