Techno-Economic Viability and Business Model Analysis of Offshore Wind-Powered Hydrogen Production

It is predicted that large-scale, deep-sea offshore wind power development will confront challenges pertaining to energy accommodation, power transmission, and secure grid dispatching in China. The coupling of offshore wind power and hydrogen energy is expected to become one of the main development of offshore wind power in the future. Taking an 500 MW offshore wind power project as an example, this paper proposes three development patterns based on share of electricity sold to the grid, and hydrogen production/transportation technology, and compared their economic efficiency. The business model for the sustainable operation of offshore wind power was discussed also.The results indicated that among the three technical schemes, the offshore wind power with hydrogen production from onshore platform is the most economic under current situation; and it can be regarded as the main technical schemes during the incubation period of hydrogen production technology for offshore wind power consumption. Considering a carbon tax of 600 yuan/ton, the cost of hydrogen production generated from onshore platform is only slightly higher than that generated from fossil energy, with the lowest difference being 0.50 yuan/kg, which showing potential for gray hydrogen replacement. A dual-track business model - replacing gray hydrogen in domestic coastal industries while expanding international green hydrogen trade - is recommended to accelerate the development of offshore wind-powered hydrogen.