Feasibility Analysis of Green Hydrogen Generation from Offshore Energy Resources

Shahulhameed, B.; Gopinath, A.S.; Jishor, E.K.; Thangavelu, R.; Krishna Kumar Koyyala, K.K., and R.K., D., 2024. Feasibility analysis of green hydrogen generation from offshore energy resources. In: Phillips, M.R.; Al-Naemi, S., and Duarte, C.M. (eds.), Coastlines under Global Change: Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2024 (Doha, Qatar). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 113, pp. 971-975. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. One of the potential renewable fuels that might be beneficial for countering two major global concerns, like the energy crisis and environmental challenges, is hydrogen. Developing affordable, environmentally friendly, and sustainable hydrogen generation systems with low emissions is still an ongoing research area. Research and technological developments in the field of offshore wind energy currently demonstrate the potential for combining it with ocean energy to achieve reliable hydrogen generation. Before implementing green hydrogen production by electrolysis of water with hybrid energy sources, it is necessary to evaluate the technical, economic, and environmental issues. This paper conducts an analysis to assess the techno-economic feasibility of generating green hydrogen from a wind-wave-battery hybrid energy system for a coastal community in the Dhofar region. The selected region has an annual average global horizontal irradiance, wind speed, and wave height ratio of 6.13 kWh/m2/day, 5.9 m/s, and 1.5, respectively. Offshore wind energy can generate more than 4000 hours of electricity per year, with average speeds exceeding 8 m/s. This translates to a capacity factor higher than 40%. Calculations estimate the potential of wind energy in the lower atmosphere and in waters of intermediate depth along the shore to be 180000 TWh/y. We used the software HOMER Pro to simulate the total system. The proposed optimized system consists of two 250-kW wind turbines and a 40-kW Aqua buoy-type wave energy converter, along with a battery storage capacity of 139 kWh. The optimum system can generate 11.27 kg of H2 per day at a levelized cost of 9.48 $/kg. Furthermore, the combination can meet the local community's electric power requirement of 165.24 kWh/day at a levelized cost of energy of 0.655 $/kWh. The system can reduce 7594 kg of CO2 emissions per year compared to the DG-based hybrid system with wave and wind energy converters.