Techno-Economic Analysis for Solar-to-Hydrogen and Hydrogen Infrastructure

Abstract

To pursue a sustainable future, this work is a contribution towards a green hydrogen infrastructure assessment and focuses on the techno-economical and geographical planning of the Hydrogen Refueling Station (HRS). Targeting green hydrogen deployment is essential in the transportation sector to achieve the global goals of reducing CO2 emissions while about 90% of the current hydrogen production relies on hydrocarbons as feedstock. Thus, the objective of this work is to assess the integration of renewable energy to produce hydrogen via water electrolysis for on-site production by estimating the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCO-H2) and analyzing the best site location for this technology by creating and applying a two-step HRS locating model incorporating the use of geospatial systems (GIS). The LCO-H2 is estimated with the merge of SAM and H2Model simulations that estimate the energy consumption for 1MW solar plant that corresponds to medium size HRS of 125kg-H2/day in United States, Mexico, and UAE. Then, the two-step mathematical model begins determining the optimal number and location placement of the HRS combining the set cover model and flow intercepting model to then categorize the potential technology to be implemented in each HRS through on-site H2 production along the west coast of United States from North Mexico to Vancouver in Canada. The results are presented in geospatial scenarios ranged from the current operational distance of FCEV (250km) and future realizes of hydrogen Fuel Cell Trucks (FCT) such as Nikola trucks (1500km). The results help to understand the relevance of interstate and country connectivity, and the impact of this scale to consider renewable sources as the technology to be implemented in locations away from the city areas while in average 45% of the total HRS located were suggested to be operated with on-site hydrogen production.

Date of Award	Jul 2021
Original language	American English