Hydrogen from wind curtailment for a cleaner European road transport system.
Date: 2017-08-09
Institutions: Joint Research Centre
Subjects: clean technology, hydrogen, motor car, price of energy, research report, road transport, wind energy, world market price

Hydrogen from wind curtailment 
for a cleaner European road 
transport system 

CARERI Francesco 

TELSNIG Thomas 

2017  

EUR 28717 EN

 
 
 
 
 
 
This publication is a Science for Policy report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s 
science and knowledge service. It aims to provide evidence-based scientific support to the European 
policymaking process. The scientific output expressed does not imply a policy position of the European 
Commission. Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is 
responsible for the use that might be made of this publication. 

Contact information  
Name: Francesco Careri 
Address: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, P.O. Box 2, 1755 ZG Petten, Netherlands 
Email: francesco.careri@ec.europa.eu 
Tel.: +31224565352 

JRC Science Hub 
https://ec.europa.eu/jrc 

JRC107626 

EUR 28717 EN 

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ISBN 978-92-79-71477-1 

ISSN 1831-9424 

doi:10.2760/690440 

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How to cite this report: Careri Francesco, Telsnig Thomas, Hydrogen from wind curtailment for a cleaner 
European road transport system, EUR 28717 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2017, 
ISBN 978-92-79-71477-1, doi:10.2760/690440, JRC107626. 

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Title: Hydrogen from wind curtailment for a cleaner European road transport system 

Abstract 
Wind power is currently curtailed in order to stabilise power systems and due to economic considerations. Using 
curtailed wind energy to produce hydrogen could fuel hundreds of thousands of new cars. Producing hydrogen 
from wind curtailment is however still more expensive than buying it at market price.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Contents 

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ 1 
1  Introduction ...................................................................................................... 2 
2  Hypotheses and input data ................................................................................. 3 
3  Results ............................................................................................................. 5 
4  Conclusions ...................................................................................................... 8 
References ........................................................................................................... 9 
List of figures ...................................................................................................... 10 
List of tables ....................................................................................................... 11 

i 

Acknowledgements 

The authors want to thank all JRC "Knowledge for the Energy Union" Unit staff involved in 
the preparation of the present document. 

The authors want to specially thank Pietro Moretto, Eveline Weidner and Michel Honselaar 
(JRC "Energy Storage" Unit) for their valuable inputs on hydrogen conversion technology 
and methodological approach review. 

Authors 

Careri Francesco (JRC "Knowledge for the Energy Union" Unit) 

Telsnig Thomas (JRC "Knowledge for the Energy Union" Unit) 

1 

 
1  Introduction 

European  power  systems  are  experiencing  a  significant  increase  of  variable  Renewable 
Energy  Sources  (RES)  in  the  energy  mix.  Wind  power  generation  grew  from  5.3%  in 
2010  to  10.4%1  in  2016  thanks  to  supportive  policies  that  incentivised  market  uptake.  
However,  as  the  share  of  wind  power  increases,  physical  and  economic imperatives  can 
force operators of power systems to curtail the production of wind energy. 

Wind curtailment has its price: clean energy is wasted, and since it cannot be conveyed 
to consumers, it has to be substituted with other  resources such as fossil fuelled power 
plants, increasing the costs and carbon footprint of the system.  

However,  part  of  this  wind  curtailment  could  be  recovered  by  using  a  chemical  process 
called  water  electrolysis;  by  means  of  an  electric  current,  water  is  decomposed  into  its 
basic  components,  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  Hydrogen  is  a  key  resource  for  multiple 
industrial uses2 but one of the most promising is transportation: hydrogen can be used, 
for example, in a fuel cell electric vehicle which emits no local pollutants. 

Table  1  shows  energy  curtailed  in  2015  in  five  European  countries  (Germany,  United 
Kingdom,  Ireland,  Italy  and  Spain):  with  more  than  4  terawatt-hours,  Germany  is  the 
biggest  "wind  curtailer"  in  Europe  with  almost  70%  of  total  wind  curtailment  in  the 
selected countries. 

Table 1. Wind curtailment in selected EU countries 

EU country 

2015 curtailment [TWh] 

Source 

DE 

UK 

IE 

IT 

ES 

4.12 

1.30 

0.35 

0.12 

0.10 

[1] 

[2] 

[3] 

[4] 

[5] 

This  document  explores  the  amount  of  hydrogen  that  can  be  produced,  and  number  of 
cars  fuelled,  using  wind  curtailment;  economic  viability  of  the  process  is  evaluated. 
Analysing wind curtailment in Germany in 2015, it can be seen that a significant number 
of  private  cars  can  be  fuelled.  However,  at  the  current  cost  of  technology,  producing 
hydrogen from wind curtailment is still more expensive than buying it at market price. 

(1)   Percentages refer to EU gross electricity consumption (Source: WindEurope) 
(2)   Chemical, metallurgic, electronics, etc. 

2 

 
                                           
2  Hypotheses and input data 

Three  different  technology  concepts  are  currently  applied  to  transform  electricity  via 
electrolysis into hydrogen [6]. The most mature technology to split water into hydrogen 
and  oxygen  is  Alkaline  Electrolysis  (AE);  Proton  Exchange  Membrane  (PEM)  is  at 
commercial stage and is suitable for hydrogen production coupled with wind energy due 
to  its  high  dynamic  response:  Solid  Oxide  Electrolysis  Cells  (SOEC)  are  still  at  an  early 
stage  of  development.  This  analysis  bases  its  assumptions  on  the  use  of  PEM 
electrolysation technology. 

Table 2 provides the main techno-economic parameters used in this analysis. 

Given its high amount of  curtailed energy in 2015, as shown in Table 1, this evaluation 
focuses  on  Germany.  Germany  is  recognised  as  an  international  leader  in  fostering  the 
transition  to  hydrogen  for  transportation,  and  several  case  studies  and  business  cases 
have  assessed  the  benefits  of  coupling  wind  power  with  the  transportation  sector  [7]. 
Germany  has  a  number  of  hydrogen  refuelling  stations  where  the  hydrogen  is  locally 
produced in reaction to energy prices [8]. 

German  curtailed  wind  energy  in  2015  accounted  for  about  5%  of  the  total  annual 
generation from wind power (about 79 terawatt-hours). 

Hourly  wind  power  generation  time  series  have  been  provided  by  EMIHIRES,  a  JRC 
database  providing  30  years  (1986-2015)  of  wind  power  hourly  values  for  Europe,  at 
country  and  administrative  region  levels  [9]:  this  study  takes  the  median  wind  year 
(2004) in order to make a conservative assumption. 

With regard to the PEM electrolyser technical parameters, a twenty  years  operative life, 
59%  efficiency  and  a  9%  minimum  load  have  been  considered  [11]:  an  electrolyser 
rating  capacity  equal  to  5  megawatts  has  been  assumed.  When  wind  curtailment  is  not 
enough  to  cope  with  minimum  load  condition,  then  it  is  supposed  that  the  remaining 
amount  of  energy  is  purchased  in  electricity  markets,  assuming  the  average  price  for 
industrial  users  in  Germany  in  2015  [12],  increased  by  a  conservative  factor.  If 
curtailment  is  zero,  then  the  electrolyser  fleet  is  shut  down  without  any  energy 
consumption  from  the  grid.  It  must  be  pointed  out  that  no  taxes  or  grid  fees  for 
electrolysers have been accounted for in this analysis. 

Conservative  values  for  techno-economic  parameters  have  been  chosen,  in  order  to 
obtain  robust  results:  since  this  analysis  is  related  to  the  use  of  wind  curtailment  for 
generating  hydrogen,  capital  and  operational  costs  in  investing  in  wind  farms  have  not 
been considered. 

Average values in the range for capital investment (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) costs 
for the electrolyser, as well as for storing the produced hydrogen, have been considered 
[10],[11]  assuming  a  storage  capacity  equal  to  three  days  of  full  hydrogen  production; 
OPEX  figures  include  the  annualised  cost  of  two  overhauls  during  the  electrolysers’ 
operative life; a 7% discount rate has been considered [10]. 

In order to evaluate the effect of converting energy from wind curtailment into hydrogen, 
assumptions  on  annual  distance  for  private  road  transportation  [13],  kilometric 
consumption  for  hydrogen  cars  [14],  average  CO2  emissions  for  electricity  generation 
[15] as well as CO2 emission intensity of new cars have been considered [16]. A ten euro 
per  kilogram  price  for  hydrogen  has  been  taken  into  account  [17].  A  cost  of  3.65  euro 
per  kilogram  of  hydrogen  for  transportation  and  distribution  to  refuelling  stations  has 
been considered. 

The economic viability of investing in electrolysers for converting wind energy curtailment 
into  hydrogen  has  been  evaluated,  calculating  the  break-even  hydrogen  pump  price 
needed to recover total costs of investment: the sum of all costs (CAPEX for electrolysers 
and local hydrogen storage, OPEX for electrolysers, cost for hydrogen transportation and 

3 

 
distribution  in  refuelling  stations  and  expenses  in  purchases  in  electricity  markets)  has 
been  compared  with  the  expected  benefits  (selling  hydrogen  in  the  market).  Currency 
values are for 2016. It has been assumed that wind curtailment will remain constant for 
the whole life of the electrolyser fleet: this could be seen as an optimistic hypothesis for 
the future but it reflects the situation where installed wind capacity is faster than network 
reinforcement. 

Table 2. Main techno-economic parameters 

Parameters 

Wind curtailment [TWh] 

Installed wind capacity [GW] 

Electrolyser life [y] 

Electrolyser efficiency [%] 

Electrolyser capacity [MW] 

Electrolyser min load [%] 

Value 

4.12 

43.43 

20 

59% 

5 

9% 

Electrolyser CAPEX [M€/MW] 

1.86 ÷ 2.32 

Electrolyser OPEX [M€/(MW x a)] 

Local H2 storage [h] 

0.07 

72 

H2 storage CAPEX [M€/t] 

0.58 ÷ 0.93 

H2 transportation and distribution cost [€/kg] 

2.80÷ 4.50 

Discount rate [%] 

Average electricity price [€/MWh] 

Annual driving distance – Private car [km/a] 

Hydrogen kilometric consumption [km/kg] 

CO2 emission intensity in electricity gen. [g/kWh] 

CO2 emission for new cars [g/km] 

H2 price at the pump [€/kg] 

7% 

100 

12600 

≈100 

535 

≈120 

10 

The analysis has been performed without taking into account curtailment reimbursement 
expenses:  as  a  matter  of  fact,  current  RES  support  schemes  foresee  a  significant 
reimbursement for any generator that must curtail its production for external reasons. 

4 

 
3  Results 

Exploiting  wind  curtailment  to  produce  hydrogen  depends  on  two  main  variables:  the 
amount of curtailed energy available (affecting the quantity of hydrogen to be produced) 
and  the  maximum  amount  of  wind  power  to  recover  (determining  the  size  of  the 
electrolyser fleet). 

Two  different  cases,  exploiting  different  wind  curtailment  hourly  trends  retaining  the 
same annual curtailment value (4.12 terawatt-hour) have been considered.  

•  Case  a):  3,000  operating  hours  of  curtailment,  with  a  wind  curtailment  peak 

equal to 4.7 gigawatt and 870 equivalent peak hours; 

•  Case b): 500 operating hours of curtailment, with a wind curtailment peak equal 

to 19.3 gigawatt and 210 equivalent peak hours. 

The size of the electrolyser fleet is based on the recovery of a certain percentage of peak 
curtailment (from 20% to 100%). Table 3 shows the number of cars that can be fuelled 
by  hydrogen  from  wind  curtailment  in  Germany,  as  a  function  of  the  recovered  peak 
curtailment  in  the  two  cases.  This  value  varies  from  230,000  to  606,000  new  cars. 
Differences arise because  of the technical characteristics of the electrolyser3; the higher 
is  the  number  of  curtailment  hours  (e.g.  Case  a),  the  higher  is  the  total  amount  of 
purchased energy to cope minimum load condition: this has an impact on the hydrogen 
production and, therefore, on the number of cars that can be fuelled. 

Table 3. Thousands of cars that can be fuelled by hydrogen in Germany 

Recovered peak [%] 

Case a) 

Case b) 

20% 

40% 

60% 

80% 

100% 

Source: JRC, 2017 

294 

451 

540 

586 

606 

230 

392 

509 

570 

590 

Figure  1  shows  the  hydrogen  break-even  prices  in  the  two  cases,  assuming  variable 
percentages  of  the  recovered  peak.  Comparing  these  values  to  the  assumed  hydrogen 
price  at  the  pump  (10  euro  per  kilogram),  it  can  be  seen  that  cost  recovery  cannot  be 
reached: the total costs incurred are higher than the hydrogen market value. 

(3)   As  described  in  Section  2,  when  curtailment  is  not  enough  to  cope  with  minimum  load,  the  remaining 

amount of energy is purchased in electricity markets. 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
                                           
Figure 1. Hydrogen break-even prices vs. hydrogen market price 

Source: JRC, 2017. 

Table  4  shows  the  annual  water  consumption  required  to  sustain  the  electrolysation 
process:  assuming  it  takes  around  10  kilograms  of  water  to  produce  one  kilogram  of 
hydrogen,  converting  100%  of  the  wind  curtailment  would  require  from  730,000  to 
750,000 cubic metres of water per year, equivalent to the annual water consumption of 
about 5,200 to 5,300 families [16]-[17]. 

Table 4. Water consumption – 100% recovered peak 

Produced hydrogen [kt/a] 

Water consumption [thousands m3/a] 

Case a) 

Case b) 

76 

750 

74 

730 

Water consumption [families/a] 

5,300 

5,200 

Source: JRC, 2017 

Table 5 shows the number of electrolysers needed to recover wind curtailment in the two 
case  analyses,  considering  different  shares  of  recovered  peak:  as  already  pointed  out, 
the  rating  capacity  of  each  electrolyser  has  been  assumed  equal  to  5  megawatts.  Since 
the  criterion  adopted  to  fix  the  size  of  the  electrolyser  fleet  is  the  recovery  of  a  certain 
percentage  of  the  peak  curtailment,  it  is  straightforward  to  note  how  the  shape  of  the 
wind  curtailment  time  series  affects  the  number  of  devices  producing  hydrogen:  this  is 
reflected in the different break-even hydrogen prices shown in Figure 1. 

Figure  2  shows  the  balance  of  CO2  emissions  avoided  –  thanks  to  the  substitution  of 
fossil-fuelled  vehicles  with  fuel  cell  electric  ones  –  in  the  two  cases,  assuming  a  100% 
recovered  peak.  Net  CO2  emissions  avoided  vary  from  about  0.82  million  of  tonnes  per 
year in Case a) to 0.864 million of tonnes per year in Case b). 

(4)   To give an order of magnitude, this quantity is equal to the CO2 emission of more than 3,200 round trips on 

full commercial planes from Brussels to New York [18]. 

6 

 
 
 
                                           
In  absolute  terms,  gross  CO2  emissions  avoided  (blue)  are  higher  with  higher  wind 
curtailment hours, but this difference is offset by the higher CO2 emissions related to the 
energy purchased with respect to minimum load condition (red), so the net CO2 emission 
avoided (green) are higher with lower wind curtailment hours. 

Table 5. Number of electrolysers to recover peak curtailment 

Recovered peak [%] 

Case a) 

Case b) 

20% 

40% 

60% 

80% 

100% 

190 

379 

568 

757 

946 

771 

1542 

2313 

3083 

3854 

Figure 2. CO2 emissions – 100% recovered peak 

Source: JRC, 2017. 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
4  Conclusions 

Converting wind curtailment into hydrogen has some advantages: hydrogen is useful for 
various industrial processes and can also fuel vehicles.  Two cases were analysed, based 
on different wind curtailment hourly trends. Results showed that between 230,000 and 
606,000 cars could be fuelled by the hydrogen produced.  

The hydrogen production chain (from electrolysis to refuelling station) is yet to 
reach  cost  competitiveness,  but  investment  in  R&D  could  help  to  reduce  the  capital 
and  operational  costs  of  electrolysers,  especially  where  those  technologies  have  yet  to 
reach maturity. 

The potential of RES generation to sustain the European transportation sector of 
the  future  is  also  related  to  the  value  of  RES  in  future  European  electricity 
markets: according to the evolution of RES financial support schemes, generators could 
focus  part  of  their  production  on  hydrogen  in  order  to  recover  their  investments  when 
electricity  market  revenues  are  weak.  This  would  result  in  a  stronger  synergy  between 
the  electricity  and  transportation  sectors,  fostering  the  decarbonisation  of  the  European 
economy. 

8 

References 

[1] BNetzA, “Monitoringbericht 2016”, 2016. 

[2] WindEurope, “WindEurope views on curtailment of wind power and its links to priority 

dispatch”, 2016. 

[3] EIRGRID  and  SONI,  “Annual  Renewable  Energy  Constraint  and  Curtailment  Report 

2015”, 2016 

[4] Terna, "Piano di Sviluppo 2016", 2016. 

[5] Asociación Empresarial Eólica 2016, “Eólica 2016”, 2016. 

[6]  International  Energy  Agency  (IEA),  “Technology  Roadmap  -  Hydrogen  and  Fuel 

Cells”, 2015. 

[7] Integration von Wind-Wasserstoff-Systemen in das Energiesystem, 2014. 

[8] http://www.shell.de/aboutshell/media-centre/news-and-media-releases/2015/new-

hydrogen-filling-station.html 

[9] EMHIRES dataset Part I: Wind power generation. 

[10]  National  Renewable  Energy  Laboratory,  "Economic  Assessment  of  Hydrogen 

Technologies Participating in California Electricity Markets", 2016. 

[11]  Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, "Development of Water Electrolysis in 

the European Union", 2014. 

[12]  Eurostat  -  Electricity  prices  for  industrial  consumers  -  bi-annual  data  (from  2007 

onwards) – 2015 values  

[13]  DIW,  Motor  Vehicle  Use  and  Travel  Behaviour  in  Germany:  Determinants  of  Car 

Mileage, 2006 

[14]  2016 Toyota, Toyota Mirai 2016 Product Information, 2016. 

[15]  Umwelt  Bundesamt,  "Entwicklung  der  spezifischen  Kohlendioxid-Emissionen  des 

deutschen Strommix in den Jahren 1990 bis 2015", 2016. 

[16]  European  Environmental  Agency,  “Monitoring  of  CO2  emissions  from  passenger 

cars” , 2016. 

[17]  Fuel  Cells  and  Hydrogen  Joint  Technology  The  Sustainable  Initiative,  “Making 

hydrogen and fuel cells a reality in Europe”, 2016. 

[18] 

International Civil Aviation Organisation – Carbon Emissions Calculator. 

[19]  Eurostat, Household composition statistics, 2015. 

[20]  United Nations, Human Development Report 2006. 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
List of figures 
Figure 1. Hydrogen break-even prices vs. hydrogen market price ............................... 6 
Figure 2. CO2 emissions – 100% recovered peak ..................................................... 7 

10 

 
List of tables 
Table 1. Wind curtailment in selected EU countries ................................................... 2 
Table 2. Main techno-economic parameters ............................................................. 4 
Table 3. Thousands of cars that can be fuelled by hydrogen in Germany ..................... 5 
Table 4. Water consumption – 100% recovered peak ................................................ 6 
Table 5. Number of electrolysers to recover peak curtailment .................................... 7 

11 

 
 
 
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