The cost of clean hydrogen from offshore wind and electrolysis
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Hill, Samuel James Peter
Bamisile, Olusola
Hatton, Luke
Staffell, Iain
Jansen, Malte
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The decarbonisation of industry, heating and transportation is a major challenge for many countries' energy transition. Hydrogen is a direct low-carbon fuel alternative to natural gas offering a higher flexibility in the range of possible applications, yet currently most hydrogen is produced using carbon-intensive steam methane reforming due to cost considerations. Therefore, this study explores the economics of a prominent low-carbon method of hydrogen production, comparing the cost of hydrogen generation from offshore wind farms with and without grid electricity imports to conventional hydrogen production methods. A novel techno-economic model for offshore electrolysis production costs is presented, which makes hydrogen production fully dispatchable, leveraging geological salt-cavern storage. This model determines the lifetime costs aportioned across the system components, as well as the Levelised Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH). Using the United Kingdom as a case study, LCOH from offshore wind power is calculated to be €8.68/kgH2 using alkaline electrolysis (AEL), €10.49/kgH2 using proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEMEL), and €10.88/kgH2 with grid electricity to backup the offshore wind power. A stochastic Monte-Carlo model is used to asses the uncertainty on costs and identify the cost of capital, electrolyser and wind farm capital costs, and cost of electricity as the most important drivers of LCOH across the different scenarios. Reducing the capital cost to comparative levels observed on today's wind farms alone, could see AEL LCOH fall to €5.32/kgH2, near competitive with conventional generation methods.
Date Issued
2024-03-15
Date Acceptance
2024-02-06
Citation
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2024, 445
ISSN
0959-6526
Publisher
Elsevier
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Cleaner Production
Volume
445
Copyright Statement
/© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Subjects
CYCLE
ECONOMIC-EVALUATION
Electrolysis
ENERGY SYSTEM
Engineering
Engineering, Environmental
Environmental Sciences
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
FEASIBILITY
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Hydrogen production
Levelised cost
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Offshore wind power
PERFORMANCE
POWER-TO-GAS
REANALYSIS
Renewable gas
Science & Technology
Science & Technology - Other Topics
STORAGE
TECHNOECONOMIC ASSESSMENT
Technology
WATER ELECTROLYSIS
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
141162
Date Publish Online
2024-02-10