Power to hydrogen: A geospatial and economic analysis of green hydrogen for UK high-heat industry

This work analyses the economic feasibility of the core parts of a Power-to-Hydrogen system and provides a rigorous rational and methodology for sizing the facility by minimizing the Levelized cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) as a primary aim and reducing the carbon intensity of the hydrogen produced as a secondary aim. The study started with an in-depth study into the literature in the surrounding topic areas. The scaled hydrogen demand profile for high heat industry is synthetically produced allowing for a reasonably sized facility across regions of the UK. Monthly resolution of wind and solar data from each chosen location is fed into the optimization model, yielding a LCOH between 3.76 £/kg to 4.87 £/kg. The lowest LCOH is in regions with high quality wind and solar availability, and storage in the range of 40–96 h of average demand. All locations achieved the EU standard for green hydrogen and are tolerant to increases in grid Electricity prices. Further research would benefit from higher resolution renewable resource data, carbon pricing. • Demonstration of hybrid energy approach. • Critical role of hydrogen storage in balancing seasonal fluctuations. • Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) ranging from 3.76 £/kg to 4.87 £/kg. • Locations with high-quality wind resources, such as Glasgow and North Wales demonstrated the lowest LCOH. • Carbon intensity values ranging from 0.17 to 2.01 eCO2 kg/kg, demonstrating significant potential for emission reductions.