Decarbonization of the Electric Power Sector and Implications for Low-Cost Hydrogen Production from Water Electrolysis

Badgett, Alex; Brauch, Joe; Saha, Prantik; Pivovar, Bryan

doi:10.1002/adsu.202300091

Decarbonization of the Electric Power Sector and Implications for Low-Cost Hydrogen Production from Water Electrolysis

Journal Article · 16 August 2023 · Advanced Sustainable Systems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adsu.202300091· OSTI ID:1998638

Badgett, Alex; Brauch, Joe; Saha, Prantik;

Increasing development of wind and solar generation in the power sector can create economic opportunities for the deployment of water electrolyzers that produce hydrogen. Temporal variation in the marginal cost of energy in future decarbonized grids can make it favorable for electrolyzers to dispatchably ramp hydrogen production up and down in response to low- and high-cost times. Using this strategy, low-cost hydrogen production is enabled by electrolyzers that are low-capital cost and tolerant to frequent on/off cycling. Ramping down hydrogen production to a designated turndown ratio can avoid performance degradation caused by on/off cycling by not shutting the electrolyzer completely off. This comes with a slight cost penalty which can be minimized if the turndown ratio is low (i.e., the system ramps down hydrogen production to close to zero). These results suggest that electrolyzers integrated into future power systems are likely to benefit from the ability to ramp operation up and down quickly and operate in a standby mode. This analysis forms a basis for comparative tradeoffs between electrolyzer capital cost, operating strategy, and system durability and demonstrates the importance of considering all three factors in technoeconomic analysis.

Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Fuel Cell Technologies Office, Hydrogen from Next-Generation Electrolyzers of Water (H2NEW) Consortium

DOE Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1998638

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-6A20-85281; MainId:86054; UUID:b18545e8-a85a-4e18-81cd-9160b291f364; MainAdminId:70356

Journal Information:: Advanced Sustainable Systems, Vol. 8, Issue 9

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (20)

Failure of PEM water electrolysis cells: Case study involving anode dissolution and membrane thinning Grigoriev, S. A.; Dzhus, K. A.; Bessarabov, D. G. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 39, Issue 35 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.05.043	journal	December 2014
Opportunities for flexible electricity loads such as hydrogen production from curtailed generation Ruggles, Tyler H.; Dowling, Jacqueline A.; Lewis, Nathan S. Advances in Applied Energy, Vol. 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adapen.2021.100051	journal	August 2021
Manufacturing Cost Analysis for Proton Exchange Membrane Water Electrolyzers Mayyas, Ahmad T.; Ruth, Mark F.; Pivovar, Bryan S. https://doi.org/10.2172/1557965	report	August 2019
Investigations on degradation of the long-term proton exchange membrane water electrolysis stack Sun, Shucheng; Shao, Zhigang; Yu, Hongmei Journal of Power Sources, Vol. 267 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.05.117	journal	December 2014
Emerging Manufacturing Technologies for Fuel Cells and Electrolyzers Mayyas, Ahmad; Mann, Margaret Procedia Manufacturing, Vol. 33 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2019.04.063	journal	January 2019
Methods identifying cost reduction potential for water electrolysis systems Badgett, Alex; Ruth, Mark; James, Brian Current Opinion in Chemical Engineering, Vol. 33 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coche.2021.100714	journal	September 2021
Electrification Futures Study: Scenarios of Electric Technology Adoption and Power Consumption for the United States Mai, Trieu T.; Jadun, Paige; Logan, Jeffrey S. https://doi.org/10.2172/1459351	report	June 2018
Activity and Durability of Iridium Nanoparticles in the Oxygen Evolution Reaction Alia, Shaun M.; Rasimick, Brian; Ngo, Chilan Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 163, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0151611jes	journal	January 2016
Impact of Intermittent Operation on Lifetime and Performance of a PEM Water Electrolyzer Weiß, A.; Siebel, A.; Bernt, M. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 166, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0421908jes	journal	January 2019
Analysis of multi-output hybrid energy systems interacting with the grid: Application of improved price-taker and price-maker approaches to nuclear-hydrogen systems Frew, Bethany; Levie, Daniel; Richards, James Applied Energy, Vol. 329 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2022.120184	journal	January 2023
Geophysical constraints on the reliability of solar and wind power in the United States Shaner, Matthew R.; Davis, Steven J.; Lewis, Nathan S. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 11, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7EE03029K	journal	January 2018
Solid polymer electrolyte water electrolysis: electrocatalysis and long-term stability Andolfatto, F.; Durand, R.; Michas, A. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 19, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/0360-3199(94)90018-3	journal	May 1994
Integrating Cambium Marginal Costs into Electric Sector Decisions: Opportunities to Integrate Cambium Marginal Cost Data into Berkeley Lab Analysis and Technical Assistance Seel, Joachim; Mills, Andrew D. https://doi.org/10.2172/1828856	report	November 2021
The Potential for Electrons to Molecules Using Solar Energy Badgett, Alex; Xi, William; Ruth, Mark https://doi.org/10.2172/1819945	report	September 2021
Electrolyzer Durability at Low Catalyst Loading and with Dynamic Operation Alia, Shaun M.; Stariha, Sarah; Borup, Rod L. Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Vol. 166, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1149/2.0231915jes	journal	January 2019
A comprehensive review on PEM water electrolysis Carmo, Marcelo; Fritz, David L.; Mergel, Jürgen International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 38, Issue 12, p. 4901-4934 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.01.151	journal	April 2013
Bulk storage of hydrogen Papadias, D. D.; Ahluwalia, R. K. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 46, Issue 70 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.08.028	journal	October 2021
Electrochemical Dissolution of Iridium and Iridium Oxide Particles in Acidic Media: Transmission Electron Microscopy, Electrochemical Flow Cell Coupled to Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, and X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Study Jovanovič, Primož; Hodnik, Nejc; Ruiz-Zepeda, Francisco Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 36 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b08071	journal	August 2017
Planning for the evolution of the electric grid with a long-run marginal emission rate Gagnon, Pieter; Cole, Wesley iScience, Vol. 25, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.103915	journal	March 2022
Cambium 2022 Scenario Descriptions and Documentation Gagnon, Pieter; Cowiestoll, Brady; Schwarz, Marty https://doi.org/10.2172/1915250	report	January 2023

Similar Records

Operating Strategies for Dispatchable PEM Electrolyzers that Enable Low-Cost Hydrogen Production

Conference · 2022 · OSTI ID:1874790

Badgett, Alex; Pivovar, Bryan; Ruth, Mark

Opportunities and Implications for Low-Cost Hydrogen Production from Water Electrolysis in a Decarbonizing Power Sector

Conference · 2024 · OSTI ID:2474839

Badgett, Alex; Brauch, Joe; Saha, Prantik; +5 more

Zero Energy Penalty Hydrogen Injection into Natural Gas Pipelines via Asynchronous Electrolysis and Venturi Valve Integration

Technical Report · 2022 · OSTI ID:1875255

Hirschorn, Bryan

Related Subjects

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,HYDROGEN
capital cost
durability
hydrogen
operating strategies
performance
technoeconomic analysis
turndown ratio
water electrolysis

Decarbonization of the Electric Power Sector and Implications for Low-Cost Hydrogen Production from Water Electrolysis

Citation Formats

References (20)

Similar Records

Related Subjects