What are the implications of considering the infrastructure costs of electricity or heating grids for cost-optimized technology paths to a greenhouse gas-neutral energy system in Germany? To answer this question, the EWI worked in a consortium with the Institute for Energy Systems, Energy Efficiency and Energy Economics at TU Dortmund University and the Gas and Heat Institute in Essen.
Energy system and grid models from the participating institutes were used and results were transferred between the respective models. Based on various transformation paths, the infrastructure costs associated with electrification or the hydrogen ramp-up were modeled and integrated into the EWI’s DIMENSION energy system model. Implications for cost-optimized technology paths can be derived from this.
Taking infrastructure costs into account changes the cost ratios between individual technologies. Among other things, this leads to increased investment in hydrogen-powered vehicles in heavy goods transport. This results in a shift from capital costs to operating costs in the energy system. Political climate targets are not affected by this.
