Summary
The current research presents a techno‐economic feasibility analysis of the stand‐alone hydrogen‐based configurations to electrify three poor‐energy islands located to the east of Canada (Pelee, Wolfe, and Saint Pierre Islands). The proposed procedure explores the possibility of various hybrid energy systems, including wind turbine, electrolyzer, hydrogen tank, diesel generator, fuel cell, supercapacitor, and converter, considering two main scenarios; Scenario I: with diesel and Scenario II: without diesel. The real‐time field data of wind speed, outside air temperature, load demand, and diesel price during 8760 hr in a year have been used. The optimization results favored scenario I in Saint Pierre Island, which utilizes 133 wind turbines, 600 kg hydrogen tanks, 600 kW electrolyzer, 200 kW diesel generator, 100 kW fuel cell, 363 701 supercapacitor units, and 252 kW converter. This combination has $0.68 M (16%) and $2 M (36%) lower the net present cost (NPC), as well as $0.059/kWh (19%) and $0.175/kWh (36%) lower the levelized cost of electricity than scenario I in Pelee Island and Wolfe Island, respectively. Among solutions from scenario I, the cleanest case is found in Saint Pierre Island by having four‐ and three‐times lower emissions than options in Wolfe Island and Pelee Island, respectively. The economic indicators are highly dependent on the capital cost fluctuations of supercapacitor and wind turbines than other components. Sensitivity analysis highlighted that the lowest values of the NPC are seen under the inflation rate of 2% within 10 to 16 m/s wind speed and 14% inflation rate within 12 to 15 m/s wind speed. The effects of timestep fluctuation revealed that optimizing solutions within samples in intervals greater than 30 min is recommended.