Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and net energy assessment of large-scale hydrogen production via electrolysis and solar PV

Abstract

Environmental impacts and net-energy of hydrogen production via solar-electrolysis are highly sensitive to operating constraints and context specific variances.

Large-scale hydrogen production via water electrolysis: a techno-economic and environmental assessment

“…Further, we aggregate all "Transformation, from..." biosphere flows to obtain the square meters of land transformation for each system configuration, to determine the total amount of land transformation. Similarly, we aggregate biosphere flows for the following set of potentially scarce materials (selection based on Palmer et al 28 and Terlouw et al 36 ) to determine their utilization (kilograms, in ground) in our system configurations: cobalt, iridium, platinum, titanium, lithium, tin, and silver.…”

“…First, they were limited to either hydrogen production costs, for example Refs. 11,15,[32][33][34][35] , or GHG emissions, 28 but none of them addressed the potentially conflicting goals of minimizing costs and life cycle GHG emissions of hydrogen production. In addition, future large-scale green hydrogen production could also approach environmental boundaries regarding material utilization 28,36,37 and land transformation.…”

“…11,15,[32][33][34][35] , or GHG emissions, 28 but none of them addressed the potentially conflicting goals of minimizing costs and life cycle GHG emissions of hydrogen production. In addition, future large-scale green hydrogen production could also approach environmental boundaries regarding material utilization 28,36,37 and land transformation. Second, hydrogen production costs and environmental burdens were usually quantified with static electricity prices and/or capacity factors, applied to wind and PV electricity generation.…”

How Much Technological Progress is Needed to Make Solar Hydrogen Cost‐Competitive?

“…">5.In this study, only a cost analysis of hydrogen production is performed. Other important aspects, such as modelling of life‐cycle greenhouse gas emissions [ 21 ] and net energy analysis [ 22 ] are not included.…”

How much technological progress is needed to make solar hydrogen cost-competitive?

“…In this study, only a cost analysis of hydrogen production is performed. Other important aspects, such as modelling of life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions [21] and net energy analysis [22] are not included. The relationship between development distance and LCOH2 provides an overview of technological progress' impact on hydrogen cost.…”