Open Access

Meritxell Domènech Monfort, Anna Sandhaas, Niklas Hartmann

• The energy system is changing since some years in order to achieve the climate goals from the Paris Agreement which wants to prevent an increase of the global temperature above 2 °C [1]. Decarbonisation of the energy system has become for governments a big challenge and different strategies are being stablished. Germany has set greenhouse gas reduction limits for different years and keeps track ofThe energy system is changing since some years in order to achieve the climate goals from the Paris Agreement which wants to prevent an increase of the global temperature above 2 °C [1]. Decarbonisation of the energy system has become for governments a big challenge and different strategies are being stablished. Germany has set greenhouse gas reduction limits for different years and keeps track of the improvement made yearly. The expansion of renewable energy systems (RES) together with decarbonisation technologies are a key factor to accomplish this objective. This research is done to analyse the effect of introducing biochar, a decarbonisation technology, and study how it will affect the energy system. Pyrolysis is the process from which biochar is obtained and it is modelled in an open-source energy system model. A sensibility analysis is done in order to assess the effect of changing the biomass potential and the costs for pyrolysis. The role of pyrolysis is analysed in the form of different future scenarios for the year 2045 to evaluate the impact when the CO2 emission limit is zero. All scenarios are compared to the reference scenario, where pyrolysis is not considered. Results show that biochar can be used to compensate the emissions from other conventional power plant and achieve an energy transition with lower costs. Furthermore, it was also found that pyrolysis can also reduce the need of flexibility. This study also shows that the biomass potential and the pyrolysis costs can strongly affect the behaviour of pyrolysis in the energy system.…