Techno-Economic Assessment of Utilizing Wind Energy for Hydrogen Production Through Electrolysis

Abstract

Hydrogen as a clean alternative energy carrier for the future is required to be produced through environmentally friendly approaches. Use of renewables such as wind energy for hydrogen production is an appealing way to securely sustain the worldwide trade energy systems. In this approach, wind turbines provide the electricity required for the electrolysis process to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen. The generated hydrogen can then be stored and utilized later for electricity generation via either a fuel cell or an internal combustion engine that turn a generator. In this study, techno-economic evaluation of hydrogen production by electrolysis using wind power investigated in a windy location, named Binaloud, located in north-east of Iran. Development of different large scale wind turbines with different rated capacity is evaluated in all selected locations. Moreover, different capacities of electrolytic for large scale hydrogen production is evaluated. Hydrogen production through wind energy can reduce the usage of unsustainable, financially unstable, and polluting fossil fuels that are becoming a major issue in large cities of Iran.

Co-production of electricity and hydrogen from wind: A comprehensive scenario-based techno-economic analysis

“…In this regard, the key factor of economic aspect in a renewable hydrogen production system is LCOWH, the cost that will be incurred to gain 1 kg of hydrogen during the lifetime of the hydrogen production system (Eq. ( 6)) [4,64].…”

“…The part of C u,e ∑ 𝑀 𝑡 1 H2 × E e 𝑡 × 8760 × CF × ƞ e used in Eq. ( 6) and known as the cost of electrolyzer [64] refers to the summation of capital cost and present value of first operation and maintenance cost (this 𝑂𝑀 cost occurs when 𝑡 =1). Hence, these must be separated for estimating PBP.…”

Wind-to-Hydrogen Production Potential for Selected Sites in Pakistan

“…As per the NEPRA, the approved cost of a wind projects in Pakistan, taking the example of IPWPPL and IRENA report [81], we considered wind power project cost as 1 million USD/MW (USD 1000/kW) [82]- [85] to take into account the local site and country specific conditions. Hence, to estimate the investment cost C inv in the current study, we considered 1000 USD for each kW of nominal capacity of the wind turbine.…”

“…With these assumptions, the cost of energy per kWh can be calculated using the total energy output, E out , from the wind turbine for its lifetime and PVC from [85], [86] using the Eq. (24).…”

“…GM has the highest RMSE values, whereas the other three methods show better error statistics (small error values). GM is not included for the Diebold-Mariano (DM) test due to its poor performance [85]. We performed the DM test for the remaining three estimator models (EM, EPF, and MLE); the results are tabulated in Table 7.…”