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Levelized Cost of Hydrogen Analysis for Alkaline Water Electrolysis-Photovoltaic Energy Technology in The Near Future (2025–2050) of Algeria
The production of green hydrogen through electrolysis, utilizing renewable energies, is recognized as a pivotal element in the pursuit of decarbonization. In order to attain cost competitiveness for green hydrogen, reasonable generation costs are imperative. To identify cost-effective import partners for Germany, given its limited green hydrogen production capabilities, this study undertakes an exhaustive techno-economic analysis to determine the potential Levelized Cost of Hydrogen in Germany, Norway, Spain, Algeria, Morocco, and Egypt for the year 2050, which represents a critical milestone in European decarbonization efforts. Employing a stochastic approach with Monte Carlo simulations, the paper marks a significant contribution for projecting future cost ranges, acknowledging the multitude of uncertainties inherent in related cost parameters and emphasizing the importance of randomness in these assessments. Country-specific Weighted Average Cost of Capital are calculated in order to create a refined understanding of political and economic influences on cost formation, rather than using a uniform value across all investigated nations. Key findings reveal that among the evaluated nations, PV-based hydrogen emerges as the most cost-efficient alternative in all countries except Norway, with Spain presenting the lowest Levelized Cost of Hydrogen at 1.66 €/kg to 3.12 €/kg, followed by Algeria (1.72 €/kg to 3.23 €/kg) and Morocco (1.73 €/kg to 3.28 €/kg). Consequently, for economically favorable import options, Germany is advised to prioritize PV-based hydrogen imports from these countries. Additionally, hydrogen derived from onshore wind in Norway (2.24 €/kg to 3.73 €/kg) offers a feasible import alternative. To ensure supply chain diversity and reduce dependency on a single source, a mixed import strategy is advisable. Despite having the lowest electricity cost, Egypt shows the highest Levelized Cost of Hydrogen, primarily due to a significant Weighted Average Cost of Capital.
Stochastic nature of wind energy prevents the electrolyzer in wind-to-hydrogen (WindtH2) system to accomplish high capacity factor without the assistance of the battery energy storage system (BESS). Furthermore, design process focuses on the reliability of the system and its components to achieve low production cost. The goal of this investigation is to develop a decision making tool for solving constrained multi-objective optimization (CMO) problems to minimize the cost and power losses, and maximize the reliability of a small-scale WindtH2 system subjected to various constraints. The proposed algorithm, which combines a CMO model with a smoothing control strategy (SCS), solves the CMO problem to find Pareto-optimal solutions. Dynamic SCS smoothes the power provided to the electrolyzer by the assistance of the BESS. It favors the electrolyzer full-capacity operation for enhancing its capacity factor. Minimum/maximum electrolyzer power input and safe thresholds of battery and H2 tank state-of-charge are the main operational constraints taken into consideration by the CMO model. The four conflicting objectives considered in the optimization model are the Levelized Cost of H2 (LCOH), Total H2 Deficit (THD), Energy Dump Possibility (EDP) and a new indicator namely Electrolyzer Capacity Factor (ECF). Solution vector consists of seven decision variables including battery cycles spent and electrolyzer operation hours. The developed algorithm is applied to generate Pareto solutions of a case for industrial usage. Pareto results show: (1) The proposed algorithm with the associated indicators is useful for the design process; (2) The SCS significantly helps to improve the ECF; (3) Consistent relationships between the four objectives; (4) WindtH2 system consisting of wind turbine farm of 836.5 kW, electrolyzer of 276 kW, battery of 765 kWh and H2 Tank of 10.8 kg gives a LCOH of 27.01 $/kg, ECF of 20.5%, EDP of 8.19% and THD of 41.72%.
Hydrogen is a clean, renewable secondary energy source. The development of hydrogen energy is a common goal pursued by many countries to combat the current global warming trend. This paper provides an overview of various technologies for hydrogen production from renewable and non-renewable resources, including fossil fuel or biomass-based hydrogen production, microbial hydrogen production, electrolysis and thermolysis of water and thermochemical cycles. The current status of development, recent advances and challenges of different hydrogen production technologies are also reviewed. Finally, we compared different hydrogen production methods in terms of cost and life cycle environmental impact assessment. The current mainstream approach is to obtain hydrogen from natural gas and coal, although their environmental impact is significant. Electrolysis and thermochemical cycle methods coupled with new energy sources show considerable potential for development in terms of economics and environmental friendliness.
In this study, the utilization of renewable energy sources (RESs) like wind energy for clean hydrogen production via water electrolysis in small-scale decentralized plant is addressed. This paper proposes an approach for multi-objective optimization of wind-hydrogen production system (WHPS) while satisfying multiple technical constraints based on a dynamic power and hydrogen management strategy (PHMS). WHPS consists of wind turbines (WTs), water electrolyzer, battery bank, power converters and hydrogen tank. Multi-objective optimization consists of minimizing the total hydrogen deficit (THD), energy dump possibility (EDP), levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) as well as CO2 emission avoided (CO2EA) and natural gas preserved (NGP). Battery assistance for electrolyzer is enhanced through a dynamic PHMS adapted to low wind speed conditions. PHMS based multi-objective optimization algorithm is developed to find Pareto-optimal solutions. The optimization results reveal that the adequate design of PHMS plays a crucial role in minimizing THD, LCOH and EDP, while ignoring the EDP objective may reduce potentially LCOH. Under the selected base case conditions, small-scale hydrogen production via WHPS consisting of 250 kW alkaline-electrolyzer, 857.5 kW WTs, 719 kW h battery bank and 2022 kg hydrogen tank, for supplying hydrogen demand at full reliability (THD = 0%), results in LCOH of 33.70 $/kg, CO2EA of 87.75 ton/year, NGP of 28.96 ton/year and EDP of 9.96%.
Hydrogen is currently enjoying a renewed and widespread momentum in many national and international climate strategies. This review paper is focused on analysing the challenges and opportunities that are related to green and blue hydrogen, which are at the basis of different perspectives of a potential hydrogen society. While many governments and private companies are putting significant resources on the development of hydrogen technologies, there still remains a high number of unsolved issues, including technical challenges, economic and geopolitical implications. The hydrogen supply chain includes a large number of steps, resulting in additional energy losses, and while much focus is put on hydrogen generation costs, its transport and storage should not be neglected. A low-carbon hydrogen economy offers promising opportunities not only to fight climate change, but also to enhance energy security and develop local industries in many countries. However, to face the huge challenges of a transition towards a zero-carbon energy system, all available technologies should be allowed to contribute based on measurable indicators, which require a strong international consensus based on transparent standards and targets.
Power-to-gas (PtG) is widely expected to play a valuable role in future renewable energy systems. In addition to partly allowing a further utilization of the existing gas infrastructure for energy transport and storage, hydrogen or synthetic natural gas (SNG) from electric power represents a high-density energy carrier and important feedstock material for further processing. This premise leads to a significant demand for large-scale PtG plants, which was evaluated with an amount of up to 4530 GWel for electrolysis and up to 1360 GWSNG for methanation capacities at a global scale. Together with the upscaling of single-MW plants available today, this will enable to achieve appropriate cost reduction effects through technological learning. Under given scenarios, reduction potentials for CAPEX of >75% are expected for multi-MW PtG plants in the long-term, with significant advantages of PEM and solid oxide electrolysis over alkaline systems in the short- and mid-term. The resulting effects on PtG product costs were evaluated via a holistic techno-economic assessment, resulting in SNG production costs of 15 €-cent/kWh and below for large-scale appliances in 2050, depending on the renewable electricity supply.
This paper presents comparative performance analysis of photovoltaic (PV) hydrogen
production using water, methanol and hybrid sulfur (SO2) electrolysis processes. Proton
exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysers are powered by grid connected PV system. In this
system design, electrical grid is considered as a virtual energy storage system (VESS) where
the surplus of PV production can be injected and subsequently taken to support the electrolyser.
Methanol (ME) and hybrid sulfur (HSE) electrolysis are compared to the conventional
water electrolysis (WE) in term of operating cell voltage. Based on the experimental
results reported in the literature, semi-empirical models describing the relationship between
the hydrogen production rate and the electrolyser cell power input are proposed.
Furthermore, power and hydrogen management strategy (PHMS) is developed. Case study
is carried out to show the impact of each type of electrolysis on the system component
sizes and evaluate the hydrogen production potentialities. Results show that the use of ME
allows to produce 65% more hydrogen than with using WE. Moreover, the amount of
hydrogen produced is almost double in the case of HSE. At Algiers city, based on a grid
connected PV/Electrolyser system, it is possible to produce about 25 g/m2 d and 29 g/m2 d of
hydrogen, respectively, through ME and HSE compared to 15 g/m2 d of hydrogen when
using WE.
© 2017 Hy
To cope with the continued increase in global hydrogen demand in an eco-friendly and sustainable way, stand-alone photovoltaic hydrogen production system (SAPV/H2) based on an optimal energy and hydrogen management strategy (EHMS) is proposed for a simulation study. Battery is used as an energy buffer to support the electrolyser operation. This simulation study refers to the analysis of the system sensitivity to the variations of battery depth of discharge (DOD) and in particularly low values from 50 to 20%. Results show that reducing the DOD value in order to increase the battery lifetime induces a decrease in the amount of produced hydrogen and consequently reduces the system efficiency.
The sustained rapid growth and learning rates displayed by solar PV and wind electricity generation capacity over recent decades appear to be unprecedented. With these technologies now available at costs competitive with - or below - those of fossil fuel incumbents in many parts of the world, high rates of growth appear likely to continue. In this paper we use ‘top-down’ extrapolation of global trends and simple and transparent models to attempt to falsify the proposition that PV and wind have the potential to achieve dominance in global primary energy supply by 2050. We project future deployment of PV and wind using a logistic substitution model, and examine a series of potentially fundamental constraints that could inhibit continued growth. Adopting conservative assumptions, we find no insuperable constraints across physical and raw materials requirements, manufacturing capacity, energy balance (EROEI), system integration and macro-economic conditions, to this outcome. We also demonstrate synergy with direct air carbon capture and storage (DACCS) that would allow the achievement of global net-zero CO2 emissions by mid-century. Achieving such an outcome would require large scale reconfiguration of the architecture of global and regional energy systems, particularly from 2040 onwards. Low cost primary electricity is likely to be a significant factor in driving such a reorganisation. But given the speed and depth of the transition, hurdles will remain that will require foresight and strategic, coordinated action to overcome.
This study presents a comprehensive analysis evaluating the impact of the dispatch strategy on the optimal design configurations of different combinations of solar power plants with storage. The analysis considers four dispatch profiles (baseload, daylight, night, and daylight and evening), and four technology combinations including a solar PV plant with batteries, a CSP plant with Thermal Storage (TES), a hybrid CSP-PV plant with TES, and a hybrid CSP-PV plant with TES and batteries. Two locations with high and moderate levels of DNI were selected and cost scenarios for 2020 and 2030 were considered. The aim is to determine the competitiveness ranges of each technology combination and establishing the least-cost technological option that allows meeting a dispatch strategy with a certain level of supply guarantee. A multi-objective optimization approach was followed to obtain the trade-off curves that minimize the LCOE and maximize the sufficiency factor in terms of the nominal size of the PV plant, solar multiple, TES size, batteries capacity, and inverter power rate. Results of this work allow determining the influence of the dispatch strategy on the competitiveness of these storage-integrated technology options, giving relevant information concerning under which conditions one technology combination is preferable over another.
The transportation sector has been the largest contributor to emissions and pollution in Canada. Climate and public health have been negatively affected by the consumption of fossil fuels by conventional vehicles. The rollout of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) has not yet occurred due to a conundrum. Specifically, a refueling infrastructure is required for the mass deployment of FCEVs, but the commercialization of FCEVs is required for investments, thus leading to the question of which will be required first, vehicle commercialization or hydrogen refueling stations. This paper develops a multi-objective model to determine the optimal sizes and locations of the hydrogen infrastructure needed to generate and distribute hydrogen for the key Highway Corridor (HWY 401) in Ontario. The model is used to aid the early-stage transition plan for the conversion of conventional vehicles to FCEVs in Ontario by proposing a feasible solution to the infrastructure dilemma posed by the initial adoption of hydrogen as fuel in the general market. The health benefit from the pollution reduction is also determined to show the potential social and economic incentives of using FCEVs. The results show that hydrogen production and delivery cost can reduce from $22.7/kg H2 in a 0.1% market share scenario to $14.7/kg H2 in a 1% market share scenario. The environmental and health benefit of developing hydrogen refueling infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles is 1.63 million dollar per year and 1.45 million dollars per year, respectively. Also, every kilogram of H2 can avoid 11.09 kg CO2 from entering the atmosphere. In a 1% market share scenario, proposed hydrogen network avoids more than 37000 tonnes CO2 per year.
The future development of the U.S. electricity sector will be shaped by technological, economic, and policy drivers whose trajectories are highly uncertain. In this article, we develop an optimization model for the integrated generation and transmission system in the continental U.S. and use it to explore electricity infrastructure pathways from the present through 2050. By comparing and contrasting results from numerous scenarios and sensitivity settings, we ultimately affirm five key policy-relevant insights. (1) U.S. electricity can be substantially decarbonized at modest cost, but complete decarbonization is very costly. (2) Significant expansion of solar PV and wind to combine for at least 40% of the generation mix by 2050 is fairly certain, although solar PV and battery storage are more affected by economic and policy assumptions than wind. (3) Investments in long-distance transmission are very limited, while investments in battery storage are much greater, under a wide range of assumptions. (4) Optimal solutions include large investments in natural gas capacity, but gas capacity utilization rates decline steadily and significantly. (5) Cost structures shift away from operating expenditures and toward capital expenditures, especially under climate policy. We conclude our article by discussing the policy implications of these findings.
This paper is concerned with the use of renewable energy sources (RESs) such as wind energy (WE) for the cost effective hydrogen production. The effect of electrolyser nominal power on the cost of hydrogen (COH) produced by an off-grid wind-hydrogen production system (WHPS) is addressed. Furthermore, optimal configuration of WHPS leading to the minimum COH is identified. WHPS incorporating wind turbine (WT), battery bank, power converters, water electrolyser, and hydrogen tank. Battery bank is used as an energy storage system (ESS). The economic analysis is conducted based on the net present cost (NPC) method that provides an estimation of the cost of energy (COE) and hydrogen. This method uses the NPC value and total annual amount of energy and hydrogen produced by WHPS. For the wind potential and hydrogen demand profile conditions considered in this paper, requirement of high ESS capacity due to the necessity to store both extra wind power output compared to the nominal power of electrolyser and wind power output lower than the minimum power input of electrolyser, keep the COH from WHPS uncompetitive with other system design.
The use of renewable energy sources (RESs) such as photovoltaic (PV) and wind energy is one of the promising ways for the decentralized and centralized clean hydrogen (H2) production. In such case, both on and off grid hybrid renewable hydrogen production system (HRHPS) can be used. In this study, off grid HRHPS is completely modeled and investigated from the techno-economic point of view. This system consists of a PV array and wind turbine for clean energy generation. This energy is fed to the electrolyser for hydrogen production. HRHPS includes a lead-acid battery bank as an energy storage system (ESS). In the economic analysis, net present cost (NPC) method is used to determine the total annual cost (AC T ) and cost of energy (COE). Furthermore, cost of hydrogen (COH) is equally calculated based on the total annual cost and the amount of hydrogen produced. At the optimal design of HRHPS, the values of COE and COH are 0.47 /kWh and 26.56/kg.
The use of hydrogen as transportation fuel is considered to be a favourable alternative to fossil fuels. It is believed that the development of fuel cell vehicles will greatly facilitate reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector due to the fact that these vehicles are fuelled by hydrogen, which can be produced by a wide range of processes using renewable energy sources. In order to promote the use of fuel cell vehicles, it is imperative to build the necessary facilities to support this need in the near future, including hydrogen refuelling stations powered by renewable power generation systems. In this study, techno-economic analysis was performed for a hydrogen refuelling station powered by two types of hybrid renewable power generation systems (wind-photovoltaic-battery and wind-battery systems) which will be installed on the island of Gökçeada, Turkey. The analysis was carried out to assess the feasibility of the hydrogen refuelling station to refuel 25 vehicles on a daily basis throughout the year, using HOMER software. Based on the results, the levelized cost of hydrogen for the hydrogen refuelling station powered by the hybrid wind-photovoltaic-battery and wind-battery systems is $ 8.92/kg and $ 11.08/kg, respectively. The levelized cost of hydrogen was also determined for different variable parameters (wind speed, wind turbine hub height, solar irradiance, and project lifetime). It is concluded that the hydrogen refuelling station powered by the proposed renewable power generation systems may be feasible for the chosen site.
Efficient hydrogen infrastructure for bus fleets: Evaluation of slow refueling concept for bus depots and estimates of hydrogen supply cost
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Review and comparison of various hydrogen production methods based on costs and life cycle impact assessment indicators
- Ibagon
Efficient hydrogen infrastructure for bus fleets: Evaluation of slow refueling concept for bus depots and estimates of hydrogen supply cost
- Hancke