Impact of different CO2-pricing schemes on the profitability of Energy Hubs

To reach the Paris Agreement objectives more and more countries implement CO2-pricing schemes. These schemes are seen as a political solution to force a reduction of CO2-emissions in today’s energy consumption. On the other hand, integrated energy systems (IES) are part of the technological solution. Thus, different optimization algorithms have been developed and enhanced to optimally design and operate such systems. However, these algorithms do not include CO2-pricing schemes in their objective function neglecting current political trends. Therefore, this paper compares different CO2-pricing schemes and their impact on the profitability of integrated energy systems. It is shown that a CO2-price on gas provides an incentive to set up an IES. However, even today’s highest CO2-price is not sufficient to raise the profitability of an IES over a non-integrated energy system. If a uniform CO2-price on electricity and gas is set the threshold is even higher.