Feasibility Study of Green Hydrogen Production Using a Battery-Assisted Solar Photovoltaic System in Germany

Abstract

The large-scale deployment of renewable energy sources (RES) is an important feature of decarbonizing the energy supply and is a critical component of Germany's energy transition (Energiewende). It has long been recognized that hydrogen will play a critical role in the world's future energy system, serving as a cornerstone on the route to energy transformation and the achievement of decarbonization goals. A technological and economic examination of hydrogen production from solar photovoltaic power generation (PV) using a battery assisted electrolyzer was undertaken in this work. The feasibility is assessed by comparing two systems, a grid assisted system without the battery and a system including the battery. The installed capacity for each of the components is optimally sized. The contribution of the different energy sources (solar, battery or grid) to the operational hours of the electrolyzer are calculated in terms of full load hours using a tool developed in MATLAB. An economic assessment is then performed to calculate the levelized cost of hydrogen and evaluate the impact of electricity price, investment cost and operation and maintenance cost on the production cost of hydrogen. The economic analysis is conducted using the MATLAB tool and a tool developed in Excel. The battery assisted hydrogen production system did not prove to be more economically viable than the grid assisted hydrogen production system.