Corridor-based optimization of offshore wind for industrial hydrogen and ammonia supply

Offshore wind has significant potential to support industrial decarbonization, but its system value depends on the infrastructure used to deliver electricity or energy carriers to industrial demand. This study extends the H2RES energy system optimization model with a corridor-based formulation that co-optimizes offshore wind evacuation, electricity transmission, hydrogen and ammonia production, storage and transport infrastructure. Six scenarios for Croatia examine offshore wind availability, dedicated versus grid-integrated supply, and climate ambition. The results show that dedicated offshore supply increases system cost because of additional infrastructure requirements. Among the net-zero scenarios with offshore deployment, the grid-first configuration has the lowest system cost (35.8 B€), whereas the exclusive offshore configuration has the highest (38.5 B€). The 2.8 B€ difference between these two offshore architectures reflects the additional infrastructure and operational restrictions associated with dedicated supply. Corridor design also changes the preferred location of hydrogen production, where dedicated supply favors demand-site electrolysis, whereas grid-first integration shifts towards centralized electrolysis. The results demonstrate that offshore integration architecture can materially affect system cost, renewable deployment, and the spatial configuration of industrial hydrogen supply.