Optimizing green hydrogen production from wind and solar for hard-to-abate industrial sectors across multiple sites in Europe

This article analyzes a power-to-hydrogen system, designed to provide high-temperature heat to hard-to-abate industries. We leverage on a geospatial analysis for wind and solar availability and different industrial demand profiles with the aim to identify the ideal sizing of plant components and the resulting Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH). We assess the carbon intensity of the produced hydrogen, especially when grid electricity is utilized. A methodology is developed to size and optimize the PV and wind energy capacity, the electrolyzer unit, and hybrid storage, by combining compressed hydrogen storage with lithium-ion batteries. The hydrogen demand profile is generated synthetically, thus allowing different industrial consumption profiles to be investigated. The LCOH in a baseline scenario ranges from 3.5 to 8.9 €/kg, with the lowest values in wind-rich climates. Solar PV only plays a role in locations with high PV full-load hours. It was found that optimal hydrogen storage can cover the users’ demand for 2–3 days. Most of the considered scenarios comply with the emission intensity thresholds set by the EU. A sensitivity analysis reveals that a lower variability of the demand profile is associated with cost savings. An ideally constant demand profile results in a cost reduction of approximately 11 %.