The sector coupling concept: A critical review

Abstract

Pursued climate goals require reduced greenhouse gas emissions by substituting fossil fuels with energy from renewable sources in all energy-consuming processes. On a large-scale, this can mainly be achieved through electricity from wind and sun, which are subject to intermittency. To efficiently integrate this variable energy, a coupling of the power sector to the residential, transport, industry, and commercial/trade sector is often promoted, called sector coupling (SC). Nevertheless, our literature review indicates that SC is frequently misinterpreted and its scope varies among available research, from exclusively considering the use of excess renewable electricity to a rather holistic view of integrated energy systems, including excess heat or even biomass sources. The core objective of this article is to provide a thorough understanding of the SC concept through an analysis of its origin and its main purpose, as described in the current literature. We provide a structured categorization of SC, derived from our findings, and critically discuss its remaining challenges as well as its value for renewable energy systems. We find that SC is rooted in the increasing use of variable renewable energy sources, and its main assets are the flexibility it provides for renewable energy systems, decarbonization potential for fossil-fuel-based end-consumption sectors, and consequently, reduced dependency on oil and gas extracting countries. However, the enabling technologies face great challenges in their economic feasibility because of the uncertain future development of competing solutions.

Sector coupling via hydrogen to lower the cost of energy system decarbonization

“…Decarbonizing these sectors via electricity or H 2 use could potentially enable a more integrated energy system with potentials for cost-savings through increased asset utilization 2 . The key advantage of sector coupling is rooted in the extra flexibility from end-use sectors to accommodate variable renewable energy (VRE) resources, directly via power or indirectly via H 2 3 . In addition to the plurality of its end-uses, the multiple technology choices across the H 2 supply chain, from production, storage, transport and end-use, make its assessment a complex systems problem.…”

Steering Renewable Energy Investments in Favor of Energy System Reliability: A Call for a Hybrid Model

“…Sector coupling broadly refers to integrating different energy sectors in order to achieve more flexibility in the energy system and allows for higher shares of intermittent renewable energy sources [42]. The classical example often studied in the academic literature is deeming wide-spread electric vehicle usage as a storage capacity for solar power [43].…”

Renewable energy systems implementation in road transport: prospects and impediments

“…However, since hydrogen can be used as a storage for surplice electricity from renewable energy sources, with the increasing use of renewables in electricity generation hydrogen will become important for supply and demand balancing [60,61]. In the long-term green hydrogen can be also used in the transport sector.…”