RES-electrolyser Coupling witin TRIERES Hydrogen Valley - A Flexible Technoeconomic Assessment Tool
Abstract
The escalating urgency to address climate change has sparked unprecedented interest in green hydrogen as a clean energy carrier. The intermittent nature of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) like wind and solar can introduce unpredictability into the energy supply, potentially causing mismatches in the power grid. To this end, green hydrogen production can provide a solution by enhancing system flexibility, thereby accommodating the fluctuations and stochastic characteristics of RES. Furthermore, green hydrogen could play a pivotal role in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors and promoting sector coupling. This research article endeavors to delve into this subject by developing a dynamic techno-economic analysis tool, capable of flexibly assessing the optimal setup of Alkaline (AEL) electrolysis coupled with RES in a specific region or hub. The focus lies on achieving costeffectiveness, efficiency, and sustainable production of green hydrogen. The tool leverages a comprehensive dataset covering a full year of hourly data on both renewable electricity production from intermittent RES and wholesale electricity market prices, alongside customizable inputs from users. It can be applied across various scenarios, including direct coupling with dedicated RES plants and hybrid configurations utilizing the electricity grid as a backup source. The model optimizes RES, electrolyser and hydrogen storage capacities to minimize the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) and/or the operational Carbon Intensity (CI) of hydrogen produced. The tool is applied within a real-world application study in the framework of the TRIERES Hydrogen Valley Project, which is taking shape in Peloponnese, Greece. For the various configurations analysed the LCOH ranges from 7.75 to 12.68 €/kgH2. The cost-optimal system configuration, featuring a hybrid RES power supply of 12 MW solar and 19 MW wind energy alongside with 3.5 tonnes of hydrogen storage leads to a minimum LCOH of 7.75 €/kgH2. Subsidies on electrolyser stack and balance of plant CAPEX can reduce LCOH by up to 0.6 €/kgH2.