Give a guideline and provide recommendations about provision of H2 for electric power generation. Maintaining a stable and steady electric energy supply that is mainly based on variable RES (Renewable Energy Sources) requires a flexible and dispatchable balancing solution for electric power generation. Balancing electric power generating solutions based on chemical energy carriers (i.e. fuels like H2, methanol, ammonia, synthetic hydrocarbons which can be stored easily) can provide large amounts of energy (MWh to TWh) and it can dispatch it quickly at a large variety of power scales (< 1MW up to the GW scale). Both of these features can be maintained for longer periods of time (days/weeks/months). Other grid balancing solutions such as battery based energy storage systems can unfortunately only provide moderate power capacities and only for a few hours (typically less than a day). Hydro plants with week-to-months storage capacity are the traditional long-term balancing means, but they are only suited for certain geographies and cannot satisfy all the needs in future power systems. H2 based power electric generation will not be a low cost solution as it is dependent on the price of renewable H2 which will be a scarce and high cost energy carrier for about another decade. Nevertheless H2 solutions will be mandatory to keep the balance of electricity supply and demand at all circumstances.
