Life cycle assessment of green hydrogen : wind-based hydrogen vs solar based hydrogen

Abstract

The success of the European Commission’s green deal is highly dependent on the rate of scaling up green technologies, especially in sectors like the power industry, whose ability to meet future demand through renewable energy sources will be subjected to massive development of wind and Solar Photovoltaic (PV) technologies. The decision of the EU to pursue hydrogen as an alternative energy source with projections of being able to produce 10 million tonnes in 2030 creates many uncertainties, especially in material markets. In this thesis, an LCA study is conducted to evaluate the environmental burdens of producing 10 million tonnes of hydrogen using renewable electricity. Hydrogen production is very sustainable when renewable energy sources are used for electricity supply. However, there is a need to understand the environmental footprint of producing these large quantities of hydrogen since they also carry environmental burdens in ecosystems. The study uses an attributional approach to assess the environmental impacts of producing these quantities under different energy scenarios using 50kW electrolysers: Alkaline Water and Proton electrolyte Membrane electrolysers. The results reveal that solar is the most sustainable energy source for hydrogen production compared to wind energy. Furthermore, the results also established an Alkaline water electrolyser to have the most minor environmental burdens compared to the Proton Electrolyte Membrane electrolyser when producing vast quantities of hydrogen.