Techno economic feasibility study on hydrogen production using concentrating solar thermal technology in India

The techno-economic analysis of hydrogen (H₂) production using concentrating solar thermal (CST) technologies is performed in this study. Two distinct hydrogen production methods, namely: a) thermochemical water splitting model 1] and b) solid oxide electrolysers model 2], are modeled by considering the total heat requirement and supplied from a central tower system located in Jaisalmer, India. The hourly simulated thermal energy obtained from the 10 MW_th central tower system is fed as an input to both these hydrogen production systems for estimating the hourly hydrogen production rate. The results revealed that these models yield hydrogen at a rate of 31.46 kg/h and 25.2 kg/h respectively for model 1 and model 2. Further, the Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCoH) for model 1 and model 2 is estimated as ranging from $ 8.23 and $ 14.25/kg of H₂ and $ 9.04 and $ 19.24/kg, respectively, for different scenarios. Overall, the present work displays a different outlook on real-time hydrogen production possibilities and necessary inclusions to be followed for future hydrogen plants in India. The details of the improvisation and possibilities to improve the LCoH are also discussed in this study.