With a global energy system in rapid transformation from fossil fuels, hydrogen from zero-emission processes is one of few solutions to hard-to-abate emissions within industry. The Ovako hydrogen facility in Hofors, with a scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace process, was inaugurated in September 2023 making it the world’s first steel plant using hydrogen for heating. This project studies wider system benefits of the electrolyser such as power grid support, oxygen byproduct, providing hydrogen to external actors, and district heating. This is analysed both with current capacity and in regards to possible future development. Replacing fossil fuel with hydrogen produced by an atmospheric alkaline electrolyser is an indirect electrification with the potential to decrease green house gas emissions. Industry-wide electrification increases the demand for electricity, affecting all existing users. Therefore it is important that the benefits are spread wider than the steel plant by itself. System benefits and sector couplings such as enabling ancillary services to the grid, producing low-marginal cost hydrogen for hydrogen-powered trucks, and using waste heat for district heating, are important to ascertain system-wide improvements, and are studied in this project. Finally, a presentation of possible future work is included, with a focus on establishing a way towards a system demonstrator at the Ovako Hofors facility. Particularly, there is a wide potential for future studies of Electrolyser for grid support services and establishing a hub for hydrogen as fuel, but also many other interrelated research questions. The study is a collaboration between KTH, Ovako, Volvo Group and Hitachi Energy, funded by Vinnova.

This paper explores the application of Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity (PSH) within an electricity market characterised by a substantial share of renewable and intermittent electricity production. The purpose of PSH is to enhance the alignment of supply with demand by storing energy at electricity surplus and releasing it during shortage. The Juktan Power Station, once the largest PSH facility in Sweden with a storage capacity of about 25 GWh and a maximum generation of 335 MW, serves as a case study. An in-depth analysis of the properties of the Swedish electricity market and its influencing factors is conducted. Wind speed data is successfully used to increase the accuracy of electricity price prediction. Furthermore, a model is developed to calculate potential profitability employing various operation methods. In conclusion, large-scale PSH provides significant benefits to the robustness of the electricity system, with a clear increase in value beginning in 2021. However, concerns about grid tariff design, electricity market development and energy storage incentives mean that investments are not obviously profitable.

With a global energy system in rapid transformation from fossil fuels, Green Hydrogen is one of the few solutions to hard-to-abate emissions within the industry. While most hydrogen projects are in the planning phase, the Ovako hydrogen facility in Hofors, with a scrap-based Electric Arc Furnace process, was inaugurated in September 2023. This project studies wider system benefits of the electrolyser such as power grid support, oxygen byproduct, providing hydrogen to external actors, and district heating. This is analysed both with current capacity and in regards to possible future development. Replacing fossil fuel with hydrogen produced by an atmospheric alkaline electrolyser is an indirect electrification with the potential to decrease Green House Gas emissions. Industry-wide electrification increases the electricity demand, affecting all existing users. Therefore, system benefits and sector couplings such as enabling ancillary services to the grid, producing low-marginal cost hydrogen for hydrogen-powered trucks, and using waste heat for district heating, are important to ascertain system-wide improvements.