Designing optimal integrated electricity supply configurations for renewable hydrogen generation in Australia

Muhammad Haider Ali Khan; Rahman Daiyan; Zhaojun Han; Martin Hablutzel; Nawshad Haque; Rose Amal; Iain MacGill

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2021.102539

Designing optimal integrated electricity supply configurations for renewable hydrogen generation in Australia

iScience. 2021 May 15;24(6):102539. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102539. eCollection 2021 Jun 25.

Authors

Muhammad Haider Ali Khan¹, Rahman Daiyan¹, Zhaojun Han¹, Martin Hablutzel², Nawshad Haque³, Rose Amal¹, Iain MacGill⁴

Affiliations

¹ Particles and Catalysis Research Laboratory, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
² Siemens Limited, Melbourne, VIC 3153, Australia.
³ CSIRO Energy, Private Bag 10, Clayton, VIC 3169, Australia.
⁴ Collaboration on Energy and Environmental Markets, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

Abstract

The high variability and intermittency of wind and solar farms raise questions of how to operate electrolyzers reliably, economically, and sustainably using predominantly or exclusively variable renewables. To address these questions, we develop a comprehensive cost framework that extends to include factors such as performance degradation, efficiency, financing rates, and indirect costs to assess the economics of 10 MW scale alkaline and proton-exchange membrane electrolyzers to generate hydrogen. Our scenario analysis explores a range of operational configurations, considering (i) current and projected wholesale electricity market data from the Australian National Electricity Market, (ii) existing solar/wind farm generation curves, and (iii) electrolyzer capital costs/performance to determine costs of H₂ production in the near (2020-2040) and long term (2030-2050). Furthermore, we analyze dedicated off-grid integrated electrolyzer plants as an alternate operating scenario, suggesting oversizing renewable nameplate capacity with respect to the electrolyzer to enhance operational capacity factors and achieving more economical electrolyzer operation.

Keywords: Electrochemistry; energy engineering; energy flexibility; energy policy; energy sustainability; energy systems.