Techno-economic analysis of a green hydrogen valley for an industrial district in Sardinia

A techno-economic analysis of a hydrogen valley for an industrial district in the south of Sardinia (Italy) is carried out in this paper. The hydrogen produced by a PEM electrolyser fed by the electrical energy of a wind farm is employed by four different end users (a stationary fuel cell power system, a hydrogen refuelling station, a biomethanation process, and injected in the natural gas pipeline). The expected annual performance of the hydrogen valley is evaluated by means of specific mathematical models and by considering different electrolyser sizes and hydrogen storage capacities. A preliminary economic analysis is also carried out to estimate the levelized hydrogen production cost. The results show that the optimal hydrogen storage capacity depends on the PEM size and on the final use of the hydrogen. In case of hydrogen surplus, a biomethanation process could allow reducing the hydrogen production cost by more than 10%.