Green hydrogen production in SE4, a business case for large-scale green hydrogen in SE4
(2023) MVKM01 20221Department of Energy Sciences
- Abstract
- As the greenhouse gas emissions keep on increasing the need for solutions to help reduce emissions across all sectors has never been greater. The European Union has pointed out green hydrogen as a step in increasing the sustainability of the energy sector in Europe. Goals has been set to boost the development of hydrogen technology since the green hydrogen production today is only existing in an insufficient scale and to give indications to other technologies fuelled by hydrogen technology.
This report presents an analysis of the feasibility of large-scale green hydrogen production in the southern region of Sweden. The focus has been to give a rough cost estimation of what the production costs would be if the production was in... (More) - As the greenhouse gas emissions keep on increasing the need for solutions to help reduce emissions across all sectors has never been greater. The European Union has pointed out green hydrogen as a step in increasing the sustainability of the energy sector in Europe. Goals has been set to boost the development of hydrogen technology since the green hydrogen production today is only existing in an insufficient scale and to give indications to other technologies fuelled by hydrogen technology.
This report presents an analysis of the feasibility of large-scale green hydrogen production in the southern region of Sweden. The focus has been to give a rough cost estimation of what the production costs would be if the production was in connection with a 1 GW offshore wind farm. Due to the time it would take to establish type of project the costs for the project has been estimated for year 2030. The report specifically gives insight into how the levelized cost of hydrogen is affected by different operating conditions and how the cost is split between the most essential cost components.
A combination of a literature review and collecting of data from interviews was used to set up a rough model of the hydrogen production. The model was then used to calculate the LCOH and give indication about the overall production of hydrogen. The results indicated that it is not possible to reach a LCOH as low as the price targets set by actors on the hydrogen market. The most beneficial LCOH was acquired by using a 1000 MW electrolyser and the smallest storage volume, which resulted in a LCOH of about 26 SEK per kilogram of hydrogen. The reason to why it was difficult to reach a hydrogen cost in the vicinity of the price targets was mainly due to high storage costs and high electricity costs. However, it is also concluded that there are many unknowns in the model, which may make it possible to further lower the costs. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- A business case for large-scale green hydrogen in SE4
Energy has become an essential part in everyday life. By the flip of a switch there is electricity flowing through cables to power a lamp and when filling the car with gasoline the fuel tank stores energy enough to sustain it to drive for many miles. Electricity and gasoline are both examples of common energy carriers, which is are substances that contains energy that later can be converted into another form of energy. As Europe strives to become more sustainable, to combat climate change, there is a need to transition away from fossil energy carriers and find other suitable renewable energy carriers. Electricity is a commonly used energy carrier, which can be sustainable when it is... (More) - A business case for large-scale green hydrogen in SE4
Energy has become an essential part in everyday life. By the flip of a switch there is electricity flowing through cables to power a lamp and when filling the car with gasoline the fuel tank stores energy enough to sustain it to drive for many miles. Electricity and gasoline are both examples of common energy carriers, which is are substances that contains energy that later can be converted into another form of energy. As Europe strives to become more sustainable, to combat climate change, there is a need to transition away from fossil energy carriers and find other suitable renewable energy carriers. Electricity is a commonly used energy carrier, which can be sustainable when it is produced from renewable energy. Electricity works well for a lot of applications, but it is inconvenient in several applications as well. For example, when there is a need to store energy over a long period of time, when there is a need to transport the energy over long distances or when the weight of the energy storage is essential. Hence, there is a need for other energy carriers that better fit the conditions in situations where electricity is inconvenient. One renewable energy carrier which has great potential hydrogen to become essential for the transition away from fossil energy carriers. There are multiple ways of producing hydrogen but one of the most promising is green hydrogen, where electricity from renewable energy is used to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen molecules.
Hydrogen is used in commercial applications today, but currently the vast majority of hydrogen is produced from fossil sources and therefore contributes with large emissions of greenhouse gases. Whereas access to larger volumes of green hydrogen at a competitive market price is largely a thing for the future. This report has estimated what the price of hydrogen in a futuristic scenario with the production located in the southern region of Sweden and utilizing electricity from an offshore windfarm. The calculations were carried out by using different setups over multiple scenarios, where the size of hydrogen storage volume, electrolyser and electricity price amongst with other aspects was changed. The main findings concluded that the price of hydrogen varied with the size of the hydrogen storage and the electrolyser. Although the price varied for different configurations of the plant the lowest cost of hydrogen, at around 26 SEK per kilogram of hydrogen, was found out to be for the case with the largest electrolyser and the least amount of storage.
The report also looked at which components in the production plant that acted as cost drivers. When calculating the share that one specific component contributed to the total cost, the results showed that it varied for every case. Still, the storage cost or the cost of electricity was the main cost driving component in every case. Another interesting aspect for the overall economical viability of the plant is if the by-products can be sold and consequently generate revenue that helps reducing the cost of the main product. In the case of green hydrogen production, the main by-products are oxygen and excess heat. A sensitivity analysis indicated that the by-products had a small to insignificant effect on the price of hydrogen with the by-products being valued at the market price at the time of the report.
The report also investigated if there is an advantage to increase the storage volume to produce large quantities of hydrogen during hours with a low electricity price. The analysed scenarios showed that it is not economical to increase the storage capacity to utilize an increased number of hours with cheap electricity. The overall results from the report can be seen as an indication of how the hydrogen price may be affected by different parameters. Further development of the production process that lowers the overall cost of hydrogen, together with low a cost of electricity can make green hydrogen a suitable alternative to the fossil energy carriers that are used today. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9116772
- author
- Håkansson, Petter LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MVKM01 20221
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- report number
- LUTMDN/TMHP-23/5523-SE
- ISSN
- 0282-1990
- language
- English
- id
- 9116772
- date added to LUP
- 2023-05-26 08:47:58
- date last changed
- 2023-05-26 08:47:58
@misc{9116772,
abstract = {{As the greenhouse gas emissions keep on increasing the need for solutions to help reduce emissions across all sectors has never been greater. The European Union has pointed out green hydrogen as a step in increasing the sustainability of the energy sector in Europe. Goals has been set to boost the development of hydrogen technology since the green hydrogen production today is only existing in an insufficient scale and to give indications to other technologies fuelled by hydrogen technology.
This report presents an analysis of the feasibility of large-scale green hydrogen production in the southern region of Sweden. The focus has been to give a rough cost estimation of what the production costs would be if the production was in connection with a 1 GW offshore wind farm. Due to the time it would take to establish type of project the costs for the project has been estimated for year 2030. The report specifically gives insight into how the levelized cost of hydrogen is affected by different operating conditions and how the cost is split between the most essential cost components.
A combination of a literature review and collecting of data from interviews was used to set up a rough model of the hydrogen production. The model was then used to calculate the LCOH and give indication about the overall production of hydrogen. The results indicated that it is not possible to reach a LCOH as low as the price targets set by actors on the hydrogen market. The most beneficial LCOH was acquired by using a 1000 MW electrolyser and the smallest storage volume, which resulted in a LCOH of about 26 SEK per kilogram of hydrogen. The reason to why it was difficult to reach a hydrogen cost in the vicinity of the price targets was mainly due to high storage costs and high electricity costs. However, it is also concluded that there are many unknowns in the model, which may make it possible to further lower the costs.}},
author = {{Håkansson, Petter}},
issn = {{0282-1990}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Green hydrogen production in SE4, a business case for large-scale green hydrogen in SE4}},
year = {{2023}},
}