Centralized and decentralized electrolysis-based hydrogen supply systems for road transportation-A modeling study of current and future costs

This work compares the costs of three electrolysis-based hydrogen supply systems for heavy road transportation: a decentralized, off-grid system for hydrogen production from wind and solar power (Dec-Sa); a decentralized system connected to the electricity grid (Dec-Gc); and a centralized grid-connected electrolyzer with hydrogen transported to refueling stations (Cen-Gc). A cost-minimizing optimization model was developed in which the hydrogen production is designed to meet the demand at refueling stations at the lowest total cost for two timeframes: one with current electricity prices and one with estimated future prices. The results show that: For most of the studied geographical regions, Dec-Gc gives the lowest costs of hydrogen delivery (2.2-3.3euro/kgH2), while Dec-Sa entails higher hydrogen production costs (2.5-6.7euro/kgH2). In addition, the centralized system (Cen-Gc) involves lower costs for production and storage than the grid-connected decentralized system (Dec-Gc), although the additional costs for hydrogen transport increase the total cost (3.5-4.8euro/kgH2). (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).