Green hydrogen will be an essential part of the future 100% sustainable energy and industry system. Up to one‐third of the required solar and wind electricity would eventually be used for water electrolysis to produce hydrogen, increasing the cumulative electrolyzer capacity to about 17 TWel by 2050. The key method applied in this research is a learning curve approach for the key technologies, i.e., solar photovoltaics (PV) and water electrolyzers, and levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH). Sensitivities for the hydrogen demand and various input parameters are considered. Electrolyzer capital expenditure (CAPEX) for a large utility‐scale system is expected to decrease from the current 400 €/kWel to 240 €/kWel by 2030 and to 80 €/kWel by 2050. With the continuing solar PV cost decrease, this will lead to an LCOH decrease from the current 31–81 €/MWhH2,LHV (1.0–2.7 €/kgH2) to 20–54 €/MWhH2,LHV (0.7–1.8 €/kgH2) by 2030 and 10–27 €/MWhH2,LHV (0.3–0.9 €/kgH2) by 2050, depending on the location. The share of PV electricity cost in the LCOH will increase from the current 63% to 74% by 2050.

The ERA-Net SES project Regional Renewable Energy Cells (R2EC) [1] aims at developing a scalable system for decentralized, interacting ‘energy cells’ with a high concentration of locally generated renewable energy. ‘Energy cells’ are essentially Renewable Energy Communities (ECs) in the European context. The system aims at maximizing the utilization of locally generated renewable energy through Electrical Storage (ES) as well as high-electric applications like e‑heating, Heat Pumps (HPs), and E‑Vehicles (EVs). The system is also designed to interact with other energy cells locally, thus, improving the utilization of locally generated energy.A variety of different adjacent energy cells in three countries, Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), and Norway (NO), are analyzed, and the results are used for the development of regional and renewable energy cell systems. This approach aims at developing tailor-made solutions that meet the different local and regional requirements and the electrical energy demand of the observed energy cells. A unique opportunity is created, as the three countries are at varying levels of regional development in the field of energy communities, and the regional requirements and conditions differ significantly. A comprehensive investigation of the technical and economic viability of the ECs in the three regions is conducted on a simulation level. The technical simulation results show an increased self-consumption of individual users and the overall cell in all of the observed testbeds, while the economic analysis shows economic benefits at varying levels in each of the observed testbeds. The implemented R2EC system ascertains both technical and economic viability in the observed testbeds.

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