Optimal sizing of photovoltaic systems based green hydrogen refueling stations case study Oman

Green hydrogen reduces carbon dioxide emission, advances the dependency on fossil fuels and improves the economy of the energy sector, especially in developing countries. Hydrogen is required for the green transportation sector and many other industrial applications. However, the high cost of green hydrogen production reduces the fast development of renewable energy projects based on hydrogen production. So, sizing by optimization is required to determine the optimum solutions for green hydrogen production. In this context, this paper aims to analyze three methods that can be developed and implemented for the production of green hydrogen for refueling stations using photovoltaic (PV) systems. Techno-economic models are adopted to calculate the Levelized Hydrogen Cost (LHC) for the PV grid-connected system, stand-alone PV system with batteries, and stand-alone PV system with fuel cells. The photovoltaic systems based green hydrogen refueling stations are optimized using Homer software. The optimization results of the Net Profit Cost (NPC), and the LHC permit the comparison of the three cases and the selection of the optimal solution. The analysis has shown that a 3 MWp grid-connected PV system represents a promising green hydrogen production at an LHC of 5.5 €/kg. The system produces 58 615 kg of green hydrogen per year reducing carbon dioxide emission by 8209 kg per year. The LHC in the stand-alone PV system with batteries, and stand-alone PV system with fuel cells are 5.74 €/kg and 7.38 €/kg, respectively.     

Assessment of offshore liquid hydrogen production from wind power for ship refueling

Green hydrogen from electrolysis has become the most attractive energy carrier for making the transition from fossil fuels to carbon-free energy sources possible. Especially in the naval sector, hydrogen has the potential to address environmental targets due to the lack of low-carbon fuel options. This study aims at investigating an offshore liquefied green hydrogen production plant for ship refueling. The plant comprises a wind farm for renewable electricity generation, an electrolyzer stack for hydrogen production, a water treatment unit for demineralized water production, and a hydrogen liquefaction plant for hydrogen storage and distribution to ships. A pre-feasibility study is addressed to find the optimal capacities of the plant that minimize the payback time. The model results show that the electrolyzer capacity shall be set equal to a value between 80% and 90% of the wind farm capacity to achieve the minimum payback times. Additionally, the wind farm capacity shall be higher than about 150 MW to limit the payback time to values lower than 11 years for a fixed hydrogen price of 6 €/kg. The Levelized Cost of Hydrogen results to be below 4 €/kg for a wide range of plant capacities for a lifetime of the plant of 25 years. Thus, the model shows that this plant is economically feasible and can be reproduced similarly for different locations by rescaling the different selected technologies. In this way, the naval sector can be decarbonized thanks to a new infrastructure for the production and refueling of liquified green hydrogen directly provided on the sea.     

Techno-economic analysis of photovoltaic-hydrogen refueling station case study: A transport company Tunis-Tunisia

This paper sheds the light on the future of green hydrogen in Tunisia. So, a detailed economic assessment and evaluation of the Levelized Hydrogen Cost (LHC) and the Net Profit (NP) of a Photovoltaic (PV) Hydrogen Refueling Station (HRS) are presented and discussed. Tunisia is characterized by its high PV potential which makes the production of electricity from solar energy an effective alternative source. However, due to the regulations and issues related to the connection of medium PV scale to the power grid, the energy produced from renewable sources (RS) is still less than 3% of the total produced electricity. On the other hand, the price of hydrocarbon fuels is still increasing. The gap between production and total demand in hydrocarbons has created a deficit in the primary energy balance. Therefore, the production of hydrogen from solar energy for refueling Fuel Cell Vehicles (FCV)s consists of a promising solution to boost the development of the country, reduce hydrocarbon fuels consumption, and protect the environment. The sizing of a small PV-HRS to produce 150 kg of hydrogen per day shows the necessity to install PV systems with a total Direct Current (DC) capacity of 1.89 MWp. The Initial Cost (IC) analysis shows that while the PV system cost represents 48.5% of the total IC, the IC of electrolysers represents 41%. The storage system cost is approximately equal to 3.2% of the total IC. The LHC is equal to 3.32€/kg with a total IC of 2.34 million €.     

Analytical model for a techno-economic assessment of green hydrogen production in photovoltaic power station case study Salalah city-Oman

Hydrogen energy will play a credible role to reduce gas emissions in the transportation sector, the storage of energy, and other industrial applications. Moreover, the hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources allows to minimize greenhouse gas and increase the net profit of energy projects. This paper discusses the feasibility of the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen in a Photovoltaic Hydrogen Station (PVHS) in the south of Oman. Then, the sizing of different equipment and hydrogen production estimation in a 5 MWp PVHS is presented. The analysis of the investment cost (IC), the Net Profit (NP), and the Levelized Hydrogen Energy Cost (LHEC) are discussed to investigate the benefit of the project. The energy generated from the PV system and the produced hydrogen is calculated through an analytical model. The PVHS consists of 5 MWp PV panels connected to electrolyzers through maximum power point-controlled converters. The electrolyzers convert the electrical energy and the water into hydrogen. The hydrogen compressed and stored in special tanks can be used later in many industrial applications. The system produces about 90 910 kg of hydrogen per year with an IC of 5 301 760 €. The calculated LHEC is equal to 6.2 €/kg at an interest rate of 2%. The analysis has shown promising green hydrogen production projects in Oman.     

Techno-economic feasibility of fleets of far offshore hydrogen-producing wind energy converters

Innovative solutions need to be developed for harvesting wind energy far offshore. They necessarily involve on-board energy storage because grid-connection would be prohibitively expensive. Hydrogen is one of the most promising solutions. However, it is well-known that it is challenging to store and transport hydrogen which may have a critical impact on the delivered hydrogen cost.In this paper, it is shown that there are vast areas far offshore where wind power is both characterized by high winds and limited seasonal variations. Capturing a fraction of this energy could provide enough energy to cover the forecast global energy demand for 2050. Thus, scenarios are proposed for the exploitation of this resource by fleets of hydrogen-producing wind energy converters sailing autonomously. The scenarios include transportation and distribution of the produced hydrogen.The delivered hydrogen cost is estimated for the various scenarios in the short term and in the longer term. Cost estimates are derived using technical and economic data available in the literature and assumptions for the cost of electricity available on-board the wind energy converters. In the shorter term, delivered cost estimates are in the range 7.1–9.4 €/kg depending on the scenario and the delivery distance. They are based on the assumption of on-board electricity cost at 0.08€/kWh. In the longer term, assuming an on-board electricity cost at 0.04€.kWh, the cost estimates could reduce to 3.5 to 5.7 €/kg which would make the hydrogen competitive on several hydrogen markets without any support mechanism. For the hydrogen to be competitive on all hydrogen markets including the ones with the highest GHG emissions, a carbon tax of approximately 200 €/kg would be required.     

中国规模化氢能供应链的经济性分析

    目的   文章研究规模化氢能供应链的经济性,未来十年,氢能作为战略能源将会重构社会的能源结构,并影响未来社会能源总成本。预测大规模氢能时代的制氢、储氢、输氢、分销、应用的成本,和市场化的趋势有着重要的意义。氢气由于高储运成本,用途、品质的多样性,氢气市场存在分层结构。分析氢能与常规能源的可比价格,提出原油当量价格(POE)的概念,预测未来氢能价格的合理区间。解决供应链问题是获得低成本氢能的关键,由此提出干线门站模式,解决绿氢的资源分布与长距离输送氢能的问题。    方法   利用平准化氢气成本(LCOH)分析模型,测算大型光伏制氢管道输氢LCOH,分析大规模可再生能源制氢输氢的经济性。利用氢能供应链的储、输、卸六个象限成本公式,分析气氢、液氢、固氢、有机氢、管道氢等不同储运技术,短距离氢储运成本,分析门站后输氢的场景和成本,预测短距离输氢的成本趋势。    结果   研究表明:我国有丰富的绿氢资源,随着投资下降,预计大规模绿氢管道输送的城市门站LCOH将低于2.0 RMB/Nm3,将成为未来主要的氢源。当前,氢储运技术气氢、液氢、甲醇、合成氨、有机氢、固氢、管道氢,随着规模的增加实现远距离输送。在现有的技术下,城市门站到终端的输送,氢短距输送（<100 km）测算成本都在1.2 RMB/Nm3以下,由此评估的氢能供应链的总成本,干线门站模式下氢能最终到达终端的价格约为3.2 RMB/Nm3,当量价格POE与汽油价格接近,考虑燃料电池的能效因素,氢能汽车在4.0 RMB/Nm3的氢价下,具有比汽油车更低的百公里燃料费用。    结论   因此,氢能作为战略能源,在无补贴的情况下实现中国氢能源的绿氢替代,在技术经济上是可行的。     

Value of green hydrogen when curtailed to provide grid balancing services

This paper evaluates the potential of grid services in France, Italy, Norway and Spain to provide an alternative income for electrolysers producing hydrogen from wind power. Grid services are simulated with each country's data for 2017 for energy prices, grid services and wind power profiles from relevant wind parks. A novel metric is presented, the value of curtailed hydrogen, which is independent from several highly uncertain parameters such as electrolyser cost or hydrogen market price. Results indicate that grid services can monetise the unused spare capacity of electrolyser plants, improving their economy in the critical deployment phase. For most countries, up-regulation yields a value of curtailed hydrogen above 6 €/kg, over 3 times higher than the EU's 2030 price target (without incentives). However, countries with large hydro power resources such as Norway yield far lower results, below 2 €/kg. The value of curtailed hydrogen also decreases with hydrogen production, corresponding to the cases of symmetric and down-regulation.     

Autonomous WPP/HPP power system operating modes study

Today, there are centralized and decentralized energy supply areas world-wide. Centralized energy supply is provided by united energy grids which cover most habitable areas; they incorporate several types of power sources with centralized control system. Decentralized energy supply areas cover territories disconnected from power grid, and they incorporate only one type of power source.Autonomous diesel power plants (DPP) are nowadays used mainly to power decentralized consumers and consumer groups. DPP basic disadvantages are power production high cost, diesel fuel nonregenerability, greenhouse gas emission and environmental pollution. The possibility of power supply by autonomous power systems combining wind power plants (WPP) and hydro power plants (HPP) as alternative to diesel generation due to hydraulic energy storage advantages has been considered.Autonomous WPP/HPP power system is a combination of WPP, HPP with water-storage reservoir, automatic control system and switchgear, combined by power, infrastructural and data connections. Hydrogen energy storage is considered to be the second energy storage.HPP water-storage reservoir parametrization procedure considering operating specificity of HPP and WPP as a part of power system with hydraulic and hydrogen energy storage has been suggested. Mathematical models for operating modes of WPP, HPP and storage reservoir have been developed, which consider resources, technical and technological features of their performance in decentralized power supply system. Technique for determining storage reservoir backup volume with allowance for wind conditions parameters, WPP features and storage reservoir configuration have been suggested. Method of day-ahead WPP power calculation in solving problem of operational planning of power system operating modes has been suggested. Simulation of WPP/HPP power system operating modes with seasonal-storage reservoir and hydrogen energy storage have been carried out.The suggested techniques could be used for solving design problems to substantiate decentralized power supply system parameters in remote and isolated areas, as well as for evaluating energy efficiency of replacing the existent decentralized power supply systems on the basis of DPP using imported diesel fuel by environmentally safe systems on the basis of local energy resource – wind energy and hydraulic energy. The suggested techniques are also focused on solving problem of power system operating modes for operational planning.     

On the design and optimization of distributed energy resources for sustainable grid-integrated microgrid in Ethiopia

This paper presents a study that focuses on alleviating the impacts of grid outages in Ethiopia. To deal with grid outages, most industrial customers utilize backup diesel generators (DG) which are environmentally unfriendly and economically not viable. Grid-integration of hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) might be a possible solution to enhance grid reliability and reduce environmental and economic impacts of utilizing DG. In this study, an optimization of grid integrated HRES is carried out for different dispatch and control strategies. The optimal power supply option is determined by performing comparative analysis of the different configurations of grid integrated HRES. The result of the study shows that grid integrated HRES consisting of photovoltaic and wind turbine as renewable energy sources, and battery and hydrogen as hybrid energy storage systems is found to be the optimal system to supply the load demand. From the hydrogen produced on-site, the FC generator and FCEVs consume 143 620 kg/yr of hydrogen which is equivalent to 394 955 kg/yr gasoline fuel consumption. This corresponds to saving 1 184 865 kg/yr of CO₂ emissions and 605 703 $/yr revenue. Besides, this system yields 547 035.4 $/yr revenue by injecting excess electricity to the grid. The study clearly shows the economic and environmental viability of this new technology for implementation.     

Techno-economic analysis of hydrogen energy for renewable energy power smoothing

With the increasing proportion of renewable energy (mainly wind power and photovoltaic) connected to the grid, the fluctuation of renewable energy power brings great challenges to the safe and reliable operation of power grid. As a clean, low-carbon secondary energy, hydrogen energy is applied in renewable energy (mainly wind power and photovoltaic) grid-connected power smoothing, which opens up a new way of coupling hydrogen storage energy with renewable energy. This paper focuses on the optimization of capacity of electrolyzers and fuel cells and the analysis of system economy in the process of power output smoothing of wind/photovoltaic coupled hydrogen energy grid-connected system. Based on the complementary characteristics of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and chemical reaction optimization algorithm (CROA), a particle swarm optimization-chemical reaction optimization algorithm (PSO-CROA) are proposed. Aiming at maximizing system profit, the capacity of electrolyzers and fuel cells are constrained by wind power fluctuation, and considering environmental benefits, government subsidies and time value of funds, the objective function and its constraints are established. According to the simulation analysis, by comparing the calculated results with PSO and CROA, it shows that PSO-CROA effectively evaluates the economy of the system, and optimizes the optimal capacity of the electrolyzers and fuel cells. The conclusion of this paper is of great significance for the application of hydrogen energy storage in the evaluation of power smoothness and economy of renewable energy grid connection and the calculation of economic allocation of hydrogen energy storage capacity.     

Research on non-grid-connected wind power/water-electrolytic hydrogen production system

Hydrogen has been recognized as the most promising future energy carrier. At present, industrial hydrogen production processes are not independent of traditional energy resources, which could easily cause secondary pollution. China has abundant wind energy resources. The total installed capacity of wind power doubled every year in the last five years, and reached 26 000 MW by the end of 2009, but over 9880 MW wind turbines were not integrated into grid because of the peak shaving restraint. In this paper, wind power is directly used in water-electrolytic process by some technical improvements, to design non-grid-connected wind power/water-electrolytic hydrogen production system. The system all works properly, based on not only the wind/grid complementary power supply but also the independent supply of simulation wind power. The large-scale fluctuation of current density has little impact on current efficiency and gas quality, and only affects gas output. The new system can break through the bottlenecks of wind power utilization, and explore a diversified development way of large-scale wind power, which will contribute to the development of green economy and low carbon economy in China.     

Comparative transient simulation of a renewable energy system with hydrogen and battery energy storage for residential applications

Energy systems for the building sector nowadays are moving towards using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. However, it is nearly impossible to fully develop a multi-generation energy system for a building only relying on these sources without convenient energy storage, backup systems, or connection to the grid. In this work, using TRNSYS software, a model was developed to study the transient behavior of an energy system applicable for residential buildings to supply the heating, cooling, domestic hot water, and electricity in demand. This study contains the comparison of two methods of energy storage, a hydrogen fuel cell/electrolyzer package and a conventional battery system. This study also provides information on environmental impacts and economical aspects of the proposed system. The results show that for an HVAC system when using hydrogen storage system the capital cost is twice the cost of using a battery system. However, the hydrogen system shows better performance when used at higher loads. Hydrogen storage systems show higher performance when used at higher size units.     

Design analysis and tri-objective optimization of a novel integrated energy system based on two methods for hydrogen production: By using power or waste heat

Hydrogen is rapidly turning into one of the essential energy carriers for future sustainable energy systems. The main reason for this is the possibility of off-peak excess power production and storage of renewable stations such as wind farms, photovoltaic plants, etc. For hydrogen (itself) or its sub-productions methanol, ammonia, etc. Such energy systems are so-called power2X technologies. For hydrogen and other biogases, using a fuel cell is a promising method for returning the fuel to the power grid or electric cars in the form of electricity. In this paper, a novel hybrid energy system consisting of a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) and different options to generate hydrogen from the waste heat of the MCFC is investigated. The system consists of two scenarios of weather using proton exchange membrane electrolyzer (PEME) of vanadium chloride (VCL) cycle. The article presents a comprehensive thermodynamic, economic, and environmental analysis of the system optimized by tri-objective optimization (as an innovative optimization) methods. The aim of the optimization task here is to minimize the costs and emissions while maximizing efficiency. A parametric study is conducted to see the effect of different design parameters on the system's performance. Results demonstrate that fuel utilization factor, stack temperature, and current density have the most critical effect on the system performance. In addition, the system coupled with the VCL cycle exhibits better performance than the system with PEME. In addition, at the optimized point, the efficiency, cost rate, and emission become 69.28%, 3.73 ($/GJ), and 1.16 kg/kWh, respectively. In addition, the produced hydrogen in VCL and PEME are 585 kg/day and 293 kg/day respectively.     

Dynamic planning,conversion, and management strategy of different renewable energy sources: A Sustainable Solution for Severe Energy Crises in Emerging Economies

Green hydrogen energy is a natural substitute for fuel-based energy and it increases a country's long-term energy safety. Pakistan has been a victim of a severe energy crisis for the past few decades. In this context, this research addresses green hydrogen generation and renewable energy supply (i.e., wind, solar, biomass, public waste, geothermal and small hydropower) as an alternate energy source in Pakistan. The assessment is carried out through a two-step framework (i.e., Fuzzy-AHP and non-parametric DEA). Results show that Pakistan has abundant renewable power capacity from wind, which the light-duty transport in the country can opt. Almost 4.89 billion gallons of fuel are consumed annually in Sindh, whereas Punjab uses up around 6.92 billion gallons of fuel annually, which need to be substituted with 1.63 billion kg and 2.31 billion kg of wind-produced hydrogen, respectively. It has been discovered that solar and wind energy attain the same criterion of weights (i.e., 0.070) in-line with the commercial potential criterion. Besides, wind-generated power is ideal for green hydrogen generation in Pakistan, and the subsequent choice for green hydrogen energy is small hydropower and solar, which are also good for green hydrogen generation in the country. Hence, this research offers a solid recommendation for the use of wind energy, which is ideal for the production of Green Hydrogen energy in the country.     

Techno-economic evaluation of hydrogen refueling stations with liquid or gaseous stored hydrogen

In this study, different hydrogen refueling station (HRS) architectures are analyzed energetically as well as economically for 2015 and 2050. For the energetic evaluation, the model published in Bauer et al. [1] is used and norm-fitting fuelings according to SAE J2601 [2] are applied. This model is extended to include an economic evaluation. The compressor (gaseous hydrogen) resp. pump (liquid hydrogen) throughput and maximum pressures and volumes of the cascaded high-pressure storage system vessels are dimensioned in a way to minimize lifecycle costs, including depreciation, capital commitment and electricity costs. Various station capacity sizes are derived and energy consumption is calculated for different ambient temperatures and different station utilizations. Investment costs and costs per fueling mass are calculated based on different station utilizations and an ambient temperature of +12 °C. In case of gaseous trucked-in hydrogen, a comparison between 5 MPa and 20 MPa low-pressure storage is conducted. For all station configurations and sizes, a medium-voltage grid connection is applied if the power load exceeds a certain limit. For stations with on-site production, the electric power load of the hydrogen production device (electrolyzer or gas reformer) is taken into account in terms of power load. Costs and energy consumption attributed to the production device are not considered in this study due to comparability to other station concepts. Therefore, grid connection costs are allocated to the fueling station part excluding the production device. The operational strategy of the production device is also considered as energy consumption of the subsequent compressor or pump and the required low-pressure storage are affected by it. All station concepts, liquid truck-supplied hydrogen as well as stations with gaseous truck-supplied or on-site produced hydrogen show a considerable cost reduction potential. Long-term specific hydrogen costs of large stations (6 dispensers) are 0.63 €/kg – 0.76 €/kg (dependent on configuration) for stations with gaseous stored hydrogen and 0.18 €/kg for stations with liquid stored hydrogen. The study focuses only on the refueling station and does not allow a statement about the overall cost-effectiveness of different pathways.     

氢储能用于核电调峰经济性研究

    目的   以光伏、风电为代表的可再生能源装机占比的提高和煤电比例的不断降低使得电网对于优质调节资源的需求不断增加,也给核电调峰带来新的压力。通过系统升级改善核电调峰能力,从而提高核燃料利用效率、系统安全性和经济性是亟待解决的重点问题。    方法   调研了氢能的制备、储运及利用现状,探究了适合用于核电调峰的氢储能技术路线,并以某核电站现有运行情况为例,分析了不同氢能利用技术路线的经济效益。    结果   利用富余核电制氢能够提高核电利用效率,并具有较好的经济效益应用潜力。    结论   随着技术的进步和设备成本的降低,利用富余核电开展氢气制备,不仅能够提高核电机组的利用效率获得更好的经济效益,还有助于氢能产业的发展。作为高能量密度的绿色能源,氢能在节能减排中起到极为重要的作用,将助力碳中和目标的实现。     

Development of a viability assessment model for hydrogen production from dedicated offshore wind farms

Dedicated offshore wind farms for hydrogen production are a promising option to unlock the full potential of offshore wind energy, attain decarbonisation and energy security targets in electricity and other sectors, and cope with grid expansion constraints. Current knowledge on these systems is limited, particularly the economic aspects. Therefore, a new, integrated and analytical model for viability assessment of hydrogen production from dedicated offshore wind farms is developed in this paper. This includes the formulae for calculating wind power output, electrolysis plant size, and hydrogen production from time-varying wind speed. All the costs are projected to a specified time using both Discounted Payback (DPB) and Net Present Value (NPV) to consider the value of capital over time. A case study considers a hypothetical wind farm of 101.3 MW situated in a potential offshore wind development pipeline off the East Coast of Ireland. All the costs of the wind farm and the electrolysis plant are for 2030, based on reference costs in the literature. Proton exchange membrane electrolysers and underground storage of hydrogen are used. The analysis shows that the DPB and NPV flows for several scenarios of storage are in good agreement and that the viability model performs well. The offshore wind farm – hydrogen production system is found to be profitable in 2030 at a hydrogen price of €5/kg and underground storage capacities ranging from 2 days to 45 days of hydrogen production. The model is helpful for rapid assessment or optimisation of both economics and feasibility of dedicated offshore wind farm – hydrogen production systems.     

Analyzing the levelized cost of hydrogen in refueling stations with on-site hydrogen production via water electrolysis in the Italian scenario

Hydrogen refueling infrastructures with on-site production from renewable sources are an interesting solution for assuring green hydrogen with zero CO₂ emissions. The main problem of these stations development is the hydrogen cost that depends on both the plant size (hydrogen production capacity) and on the renewable source.In this study, a techno-economic assessment of on-site hydrogen refueling stations (HRS), based on grid-connected PV plants integrated with electrolysis units, has been performed. Different plant configurations, in terms of hydrogen production capacity (50 kg/day, 100 kg/day, 200 kg/day) and the electricity mix (different sharing of electricity supply between the grid and the PV plant), have been analyzed in terms of electric energy demands and costs.The study has been performed by considering the Italian scenario in terms of economic streams (i.e. electricity prices) and solar irradiation conditions.The levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), that is the more important indicator among the economic evaluation indexes, has been calculated for all configurations by estimating the investment costs, the operational and maintenance costs and the replacement costs.Results highlighted that the investment costs increase proportionally as the electricity mix changes from Full Grid operation (100% Grid) to Low Grid supply (25% Grid) and as the hydrogen production capacity grows, because of the increasing in the sizes of the PV plant and the HRS units. The operational and maintenance costs are the main contributor to the LCOH due to the annual cost of the electricity purchased from the grid.The calculated LCOH values range from 9.29 €/kg (200 kg/day, 50% Grid) to 12.48 €/kg (50 kg/day, 100% Grid).     

Techno-economic assessment of green hydrogen valley providing multiple end-users

A techno-economic analysis of a hydrogen valley is carried out in this paper. A hydrogen generator fed by a wind farm (WF) and/or a photovoltaic (PV) plant supplies four end-users: a stationary fuel cell, a hydrogen refuelling station, the injection in the natural gas pipeline and, in case of sufficient hydrogen surplus, a biological hydrogen methanation (BHM) process.The results demonstrated that an efficiency improvement and a reduction in hydrogen production costs arise from a balanced supply from wind and solar energy. Without the inclusion of a BHM process, hydrogen production costs lower than 7 €/kg were achieved by a hydrogen generator using 10–12% of the PV + WF annual energy with a PV share of 20%–50%. The hydrogen production costs were further reduced to 5 €/kg by introducing a BHM process and increasing the percentage of electrical energy supplied by the PV + WF system to 25% of its overall production.     

Techno-economical evaluation of a hydrogen refuelling station powered by Wind-PV hybrid power system: A case study for İzmir-Çeşme

Hydrogen fuelling station is an infrastructure for the commercialisation of hydrogen energy utilising fuel cells, particularly, in the automotive sector. Hydrogen fuel produced by renewable sources such as the solar and wind energy can be an alternative fuel to depress the use of fuels based on fossil sources in the transport sector for sustainable clean energy strategy in future. By replacing the primary fuel with hydrogen fuel produced using renewable sources in road transport sector, environmental benefits can be achieved. In the present study, techno-economic analysis of hydrogen refuelling station powered by wind-photovoltaics (PV) hybrid power system to be installed in ?zmir-Çe?me, Turkey is performed. This analysis is carried out to a design of hydrogen refuelling station which is refuelling 25 fuel cell electric vehicles on a daily basis using hybrid optimisation model for electric renewable (HOMER) software. In this study, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) surface meteorology and solar energy database were used. Therefore, the average wind speed during the year was assessed to be 5.72 m/s and the annual average solar irradiation was used to be 5.08 kW h/m²/day for the considered site. According to optimisation results obtained for the proposed configuration, the levelised cost of hydrogen production was found to be US $7.526–7.866/kg in different system configurations. These results show that hydrogen refuelling station powered by renewable energy is economically appropriate for the considered site. It is expected that this study is the pre-feasibility study and obtained results encougare the hydrogen refuelling station to be established in Turkey by inventors or public institutions.