Techno-economic assessment of offshore floating solar–hydrogen systems in Romania and Malaysia

The growing global focus on clean energy has increased interest in hydrogen production powered by renewable sources. This numerical study evaluates the techno-economic performance of a 50 MW offshore floating solar–hydrogen system in the coastal regions of Constanța, Romania, and Melaka, Malaysia. The analysis assesses solar energy generation potential, hydrogen production capacity, water resource requirements, levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), economic viability, and CO 2 mitigation benefits under site-specific meteorological and oceanographic conditions. Solar energy output was simulated using the PVsyst tool, while hydrogen production, water consumption, and techno-economic performance were evaluated through mathematical modelling over a 21-year project lifetime. The results indicate that both locations achieve comparable annual electricity generation, with 73.51 GWh/year in Romania and 73.08 GWh/year in Malaysia. These outputs correspond to hydrogen production capacities of 1336.69 tones/year and 1228.26 tones/year, respectively. The Levelized Cost of Hydrogen was estimated at approximately 32.12 MYR/kg for Malaysia and 36.05 RON/kg for Romania. The findings demonstrate that offshore floating solar systems can support continuous hydrogen production with competitive economic performance under the modelled conditions and offer substantial CO 2 mitigation potential in both regions.