Green Hydrogen Production from Solar-powered Electrolysis: A Novel Optimization Methodology

Today, hydrogen production still relies primarily on fossil fuels. Indeed, over 99% of the hydrogen produced in 2022 was synthesized via highly carbon-intensive processes such as steam methane reforming and coal gasification (IEA, 2023). This represents a primary problem in the chemical engineering scenario as hydrogen is the raw material of a plethora of commodities that are produced in tremendous amounts every year. Thus, hydrogen production is accountable for the vast majority of chemical industry carbon dioxide emissions along with the oil refining sector (Isella and Manca, 2022). In this perspective, being ever closer to entering a fully green economy, renewable-powered water electrolysis represents an increasingly valid alternative to produce hydrogen. However, properly sizing the renewable power plant (e.g., a solar or wind farm) and the electrolyzer may be challenging since many features should be considered. Facilitating such a task is the main aim of this work, which proposes a novel methodology to optimally design green hydrogen production facilities. Specifically, starting from renewable energy availability time profiles in the location of interest, this criterion allows for the optimal evaluation of the installed capacities of both renewable power plant and electrolyzer which minimize the plant's total costs (both capital and operative expenditures).