Energy systems based on renewable energy sources (RES) have an increasing demand for flexibility. Beyond traditional sources of flexibility, energy systems integration (ESI), i.e. increasing integration between energy pathways that were traditionally considered in isolation and making use of the arising synergies, is a valuable but yet largely untapped source of flexibility. In this paper, we analyse the possibility to integrate the power and gas systems more strongly through power-to-gas (PtG) as one such ESI option. PtG, is a technology that converts electrical power to gas fuel. It has gained increasing attention recently but the majority of existing research focuses on the technology itself without considering system effects. Those studies that consider the system are mostly limited to analysing the system impact when adding a predefined capacity of PtG on the system. Finally, there are a small number of studies that consider PtG expansion as an endogenous optimisation variable but these studies are based on least cost optimisation models exclusively, i.e. they may find that a certain amount of PtG is beneficial for the system but shed no light on whether it proves optimal for any of the market participants to make this investment. In analysing the role of PtG in a future energy system we therefore wish to understand what level of PtG is optimal, what determines this level, and which market player(s), if any, have an incentive to invest in this technology. Thus, we develop a model which endogenises the PtG investment decision and which considers the optimisation problems of the different market participants individually.
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