The Australian Pipelines and Gas Association (AGPA) has launched its “Facts Sheets”. In this series of fact sheets it unpacks several key issues facing the pipeline and gas industry in the short to medium term.
AGPA’s fact sheet on storage cost of energy put in parallel pipelines versus battery energy storage systems (BESS) and pumped hydro energy storage (PHES).
“To understand whether pipeline infrastructure could continue to deliver lower cost energy storage than BESS and PHES into the future, APGA commissioned the Pipelines vs Powerlines study to consider these options in like for like scenarios,” says AGPA in its study.
“This study demonstrated that it cost less to store energy in new natural gas or hydrogen pipelines than it cost to store energy in new BESS or PHES.”
APGA supports a net zero emission future for Australia by 2050.
Renewable gases represent a real, technically viable approach to lowest-cost energy decarbonisation in Australia. As set out in Gas Vision 2050, APGA sees renewable gases such as hydrogen and biomethane playing a critical role in decarbonising gas use for both wholesale and retail customers.
As non-dispatchable energy continues to grow over the next decade, affordable and reliable energy storage will become a key driver of energy cost and security in Australia.
Australia’s existing gas pipeline network contains significantly more energy storage capacity than all electricity storage in Australia, delivering flexibility to gas customers.
Connection to even greater energy storage in underground gas storage facilities enables the gas market to ebb and flow between summer and winter, absorbing the majority of seasonal energy demand variation.
Energy storage in gas pipelines costs a fraction of the cost of electricity storage.
“Finding significantly lower cost energy storage options, especially for potentially renewable forms of energy such as hydrogen and biomethane, will make a significant impact on Australia’s transition to a net-zero future,” adds AGPA.
Read the full study here.
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