Offshore Wind Generators Supply Path for Clear Hydrogen Manufacturing

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NREL Researchers Establish Promising Places off US Coastlines for Set up of Know-how

Utilizing electrical energy generated by offshore wind generators as one pathway to separate water to provide clear hydrogen could make financial sense, significantly alongside the U.S. Atlantic Coast and within the Gulf of Mexico, in line with researchers on the Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory (NREL).

The economics work finest in areas the place the water is just not as deep and the wind is powerful, in line with their findings within the lately revealed article, “Potential for large-scale deployment of offshore wind-to-hydrogen programs in the US,” which seems within the Journal of Physics: Convention Sequence.

The flexibility to provide hydrogen at a price that approaches the U.S. Division of Vitality (DOE) purpose for low-cost clear hydrogen relies upon considerably on each the expertise used and the placement of manufacturing. Projected coverage incentives may additionally play a task. Hydrogen could be produced utilizing an electrolyzer that splits water—product of two atoms of hydrogen and certainly one of oxygen—into its element elements. An electrolyzer powered by a renewable vitality supply produces what is called clear hydrogen. By way of its Hydrogen Shot initiative, DOE is main efforts to cut back the price of clear hydrogen to $1 a kilogram by 2031. Reaching $2 per kilogram may make it cost-competitive in some purposes in contrast with standard carbon-intensive strategies of manufacturing hydrogen.

“Each offshore wind and clear hydrogen manufacturing are applied sciences which might be quickly evolving and when mixed have the potential to generate and retailer a whole lot of renewable vitality and decarbonize sectors which might be laborious to affect,” stated Kaitlin Brunik, a hybrid programs analysis engineer at NREL and lead writer of the brand new paper. “Continued funding and analysis on system- and plant-level design and optimization may spur additional expertise progress and price reductions for these programs.”

Her coauthors from NREL are Jared Thomas, Caitlyn Clark, Patrick Duffy, Matthew Kotarbinski, Jamie Kee, Elenya Grant, Genevieve Starke, Nick Riccobono, Masha Koleva, Evan Reznicek, and Jennifer King.

The paper describes the usage of case research simulations to research the techno-economics of manufacturing hydrogen from offshore wind vitality in 2025, 2030, and 2035. NREL researchers evaluated two eventualities counting on electrolysis powered by offshore wind and recognized 4 consultant coastal areas for wind-to-hydrogen hybrid amenities. Relying upon how deep the water is on the places studied, the researchers thought of whether or not the generators could be floating or fastened to the ocean flooring. The analysis means that by 2030, a mix of things together with coverage incentives and fixed-bottom offshore wind with onshore electrolysis could enable the manufacturing of hydrogen for lower than $2 a kilogram. The evaluation doesn’t present coverage steerage however represents coverage utilizing preliminary assumptions made previous to the discharge of proposed rules for the tax credit score.

Within the first situation, an offshore wind plant generated electrical energy that was transmitted through high-voltage cables to an onshore website. There, an electrolyzer produced hydrogen from contemporary water. This represented a standard method of pairing offshore wind with onshore electrolysis.

Within the second situation, the hydrogen was cut up from desalinated seawater on the offshore wind plant website, requiring extra infrastructure within the ocean to accommodate the extra gear. The hydrogen was then transported through pipelines to shore for storage. The researchers famous the technical feasibility of this situation is much less established.

“Shifting an electrolyzer to an offshore platform for bulk vitality manufacturing presents a novel problem,” Brunik stated. “To completely harness the electrical energy generated by offshore wind farms for hydrogen manufacturing, substantial electrolyzers are wanted, together with ancillary gear for water remedy, hydrogen storage, and transportation.” Offshore renewable hydrogen manufacturing stays uncharted territory, requiring modern configurations to combine all the mandatory gear with a wind farm for gigawatt-scale operations.

Along with the technological design of those programs, the researchers thought of the place an offshore wind-to-hydrogen system could be finest located. They checked out shallower websites within the Gulf of Mexico and New York Bight the place generators may very well be fastened to the ocean flooring, had plentiful wind sources, and had been in proximity to at the least certainly one of DOE’s Regional Clear Hydrogen Hubs that may join hydrogen producers and customers. In addition they examined websites with a lot deeper waters off the coast of northern California and within the Gulf of Maine the place the generators must be put in on floating platforms. The hydrogen could be saved on shore in underground pipes, rock caverns, or salt caverns.

The evaluation projected that the levelized value of hydrogen (LCOH), which incorporates everything of the wind system, electrical transmission, and hydrogen system, may very well be lowest within the New York Bight due to greater wind capability. The Gulf of Mexico had the second-lowest determine. The selection of the place to retailer the hydrogen considerably impacts the fee, with a lower of 20% to 30% within the LCOH calculated from utilizing caverns. Projected coverage incentives are additionally a consider additional lowering prices. This research confirmed promising indicators of what large-scale deployment of offshore wind-to-hydrogen may seem like and will probably be a continued space of curiosity as new and higher applied sciences proceed to be developed on this space.

DOE’s Wind Vitality Applied sciences Workplace and the Hydrogen and Gas Cell Applied sciences Workplace funded the analysis.

By Wayne Hicks, NREL.