Prospect of green hydrogen in Malaysian iron and steel industry: Techno-economic assessment and energy modelling using PyPSA-Earth

The iron and steel sector stands as a significant contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and highly challenging for deep decarbonization. Although green hydrogen and renewable energy emerge as a promising solution, comprehensive infrastructure and system analyses are required to evaluate the feasibility. This study proposes a methodology to assess green hydrogen deployment for both primary (hydrogen as a reducing agent) and secondary (hydrogen as a combustion fuel) iron and steel production in Malaysia. PyPSA-Earth energy modeling tool has been employed to estimate the solar potential of Malaysia and the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE). With an investment cost of $847.44/kW and an LCOE of RM22.5–26.6/kWe. The study compares centralized and decentralized hydrogen generation scenarios. The assessment suggested that full hydrogen adoption requires 38–39 TWh/year of renewable electricity which translates to 758.85 thousand tonnes of hydrogen annually. The estimated cost of solar farms, electrolyzers, and hydrogen transportation totals $63–64 billion for 100 % decarbonization and $36–37 billion for the primary sector alone (excluding retrofitting cost). Infrastructure costs in a decentralized scenario amount to $22–23 billion for both sectors and $12–13 billion for the primary sector alone. This comprehensive analysis provides valuable insights into the preliminary cost estimations in transformation of Malaysia's iron and steel industry into a more sustainable sector, and can be scaled up to any region worldwide.