Singaporean researchers have developed a method to calculate the levelized cost of hydrogen in solar-powered green hydrogen plants and highlighted the need to level the storage cost (LCOH) below $10/kg for green hydrogen to compete with grey, blue and orange hydrogen in the current technology environment.
The scientists said in a recent paper, “Green hydrogen from solar power to carbon dioxide removal: What does it cost?” Energy conversion management, that their model includes solar radiation, physical hydrogen storage, land footprint, carbon intensity of the power grid, and various factors such as project type, size, capital and operating costs, efficiency, and lifetime. They also said that in the current technology environment, LCOH of less than $10/kg is needed for green hydrogen to compete with gray, blue and orange hydrogen.
“The model accounts for the impact of intra-day and inter-day variations in renewable electricity generation by incorporating solar irradiance data with fine precision,” they said, noting that it also allows for import and export of local electricity. grid. “The model has the option of installing batteries for storing and utilizing renewable electrons. Likewise, it is also considering storing hydrogen molecules to manage hydrogen demand.”
“The biggest challenge in the design of this plant is to optimally use the transient and uncertain solar radiation to satisfy the hydrogen demand at the lowest cost,” the researchers emphasized. “With the help of the model, optimal plant planning can be achieved, which produces the cheapest green hydrogen in different geographical and technical-economic conditions.”
The model is based on four different scenarios: a fully grid-connected facility or Islanded Facility (ILF), which exclusively produces green hydrogen; a facility that can buy electricity from the grid without the possibility of selling it back or a grid import facility (FGI); a plant that can sell electricity to the grid without the option to buy, or a plant with grid export (FGE); and a plant that can either import electricity from the local electricity grid or export electricity to it or to the grid to Import and Export Equipment (FGIE).
For the first plant, the research team found that its LCOH could be $10.68/kg in Saudi Arabia, $12.0/kg in Australia, $13.86/kg in Singapore, and $42.12/kg in Germany, and between the three countries the difference is mainly due to solar radiation levels and costs are estimated by assuming the price of water to be zero. “The stronger the solar radiation, the lower the LCOH and the smaller the PV farm,” the researchers said.
For Singapore only, the researchers also identified LCOH for other project types and found it to be $11.78/kg, $12.55/kg and $10.44/kg for FGI, FGE and FGIE projects, respectively.
“It is clear that network connectivity in all configurations lowers LCOH compared to ILF,” they explained. “It is clear that grid connectivity in all configurations will lower the LCOH compared to ILF, so he should focus on the development of solar, storage and battery technology.”
According to their analysis, an LCOH of $3.29-$4.15/kg could be attributed to a 60% reduction in solar capital, a 20% increase in electrolyzer performance, a 75% reduction in battery consumption, and a 0.01% discount factor. . “Green hydrogen indeed appears to be a potential but expensive silver bullet for deep decarbonization at the moment,” they concluded.
