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Title: A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy

Abstract

A technoeconomic analysis of photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photovoltaic-electrolytic (PV-E) solar-hydrogen production of 10 000 kg H2 day-1 (3.65 kilotons per year) was performed to assess the economics of each technology, and to provide a basis for comparison between these technologies as well as within the broader energy landscape. Two PEC systems, differentiated primarily by the extent of solar concentration (unconcentrated and 10× concentrated) and two PV-E systems, differentiated by the degree of grid connectivity (unconnected and grid supplemented), were analyzed. In each case, a base-case system that used established designs and materials was compared to prospective systems that might be envisioned and developed in the future with the goal of achieving substantially lower overall system costs. With identical overall plant efficiencies of 9.8%, the unconcentrated PEC and non-grid connected PV-E system base-case capital expenses for the rated capacity of 3.65 kilotons H 2 per year were 205 dollars MM (293 dollars per m 2 of solar collection area (m S -2 ), 14.7 W H2,P-1) and 260 dollars MM ($371 mS-2, 18.8 dollars WH2,P -1 ), respectively. The untaxed, plant-gate levelized costs for the hydrogen product (LCH) were $11.4 kg -1 and 12.1 dollars kg -1 for the base-case PECmore » and PV-E systems, respectively. The 10× concentrated PEC base-case system capital cost was 160 dollars MM (428 dollars mS -2, 11.5 dollars WH2,P -1) and for an efficiency of 20% the LCH was 9.2 kg -1 . Likewise, the grid supplemented base-case PV-E system capital cost was 66 dollars MM (441 dollars m S -2, 11.5 dollars W H2,P -1 ), and with solar-to-hydrogen and grid electrolysis system efficiencies of 9.8% and 61%, respectively, the LCH was 6.1 dollars kg-1 . As a benchmark, a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) based grid-connected electrolysis system was analyzed. Assuming a system efficiency of 61% and a grid electricity cost of $0.07 kWh -1 , the LCH was $5.5 kg -1 . A sensitivity analysis indicated that, relative to the base-case, increases in the system efficiency could effect the greatest cost reductions for all systems, due to the areal dependencies of many of the components. The balance-of-systems (BoS) costs were the largest factor in differentiating the PEC and PV-E systems. No single or combination of technical advancements based on currently demonstrated technology can provide sufficient cost reductions to allow solar hydrogen to directly compete on a levelized cost basis with hydrogen produced from fossil energy. Specifically, a cost of CO 2 greater than ~$800 dollars (ton CO2 ) -1 was estimated to be necessary for base-case PEC hydrogen to reach price parity with hydrogen derived from steam reforming of methane priced at $12 GJ -1 ($1.39 (kg H 2 ) -1). A comparison with low CO 2 and CO2 -neutral energy sources indicated that base-case PEC hydrogen is not currently cost-competitive with electrolysis using electricity supplied by nuclear power or from fossil-fuels in conjunction with carbon capture and storage. Solar electricity production and storage using either batteries or PEC hydrogen technologies are currently an order of magnitude greater in cost than electricity prices with no clear advantage to either battery or hydrogen storage as of yet. Significant advances in PEC technology performance and system cost reductions are necessary to enable cost-effective PEC-derived solar hydrogen for use in scalable grid-storage applications as well as for use as a chemical feedstock precursor to CO2 -neutral high energy-density transportation fuels. Hence such applications are an opportunity for foundational research to contribute to the development of disruptive approaches to solar fuels generation systems that can offer higher performance at much lower cost than is provided by current embodiments of solar fuels generators. Efforts to directly reduce CO2 photoelectrochemically or electrochemically could potentially produce products with higher value than hydrogen, but many, as yet unmet, challenges include catalytic efficiency and selectivity, and CO 2 mass transport rates and feedstock cost. Major breakthroughs are required to obtain viable economic costs for solar hydrogen production, but the barriers to achieve cost-competitiveness with existing large-scale thermochemical processes for CO2 reduction are even greater.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP); California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States).Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
  2. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP); California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Thomas J. Watson Lab. of Applied Physics
  3. Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane (Australia). Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, Dept. of Chemical Engineering
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1436115
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0004993
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Energy & Environmental Science
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 1754-5692
Publisher:
Royal Society of Chemistry
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY

Citation Formats

Shaner, Matthew R., Atwater, Harry A., Lewis, Nathan S., and McFarland, Eric W. A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1039/c5ee02573g.
Shaner, Matthew R., Atwater, Harry A., Lewis, Nathan S., & McFarland, Eric W. A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy. United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ee02573g
Shaner, Matthew R., Atwater, Harry A., Lewis, Nathan S., and McFarland, Eric W. 2016. "A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy". United States. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5ee02573g. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1436115.
@article{osti_1436115,
title = {A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy},
author = {Shaner, Matthew R. and Atwater, Harry A. and Lewis, Nathan S. and McFarland, Eric W.},
abstractNote = {A technoeconomic analysis of photoelectrochemical (PEC) and photovoltaic-electrolytic (PV-E) solar-hydrogen production of 10 000 kg H2 day-1 (3.65 kilotons per year) was performed to assess the economics of each technology, and to provide a basis for comparison between these technologies as well as within the broader energy landscape. Two PEC systems, differentiated primarily by the extent of solar concentration (unconcentrated and 10× concentrated) and two PV-E systems, differentiated by the degree of grid connectivity (unconnected and grid supplemented), were analyzed. In each case, a base-case system that used established designs and materials was compared to prospective systems that might be envisioned and developed in the future with the goal of achieving substantially lower overall system costs. With identical overall plant efficiencies of 9.8%, the unconcentrated PEC and non-grid connected PV-E system base-case capital expenses for the rated capacity of 3.65 kilotons H 2 per year were 205 dollars MM (293 dollars per m 2 of solar collection area (m S -2 ), 14.7 W H2,P-1) and 260 dollars MM ($371 mS-2, 18.8 dollars WH2,P -1 ), respectively. The untaxed, plant-gate levelized costs for the hydrogen product (LCH) were $11.4 kg -1 and 12.1 dollars kg -1 for the base-case PEC and PV-E systems, respectively. The 10× concentrated PEC base-case system capital cost was 160 dollars MM (428 dollars mS -2, 11.5 dollars WH2,P -1) and for an efficiency of 20% the LCH was 9.2 kg -1 . Likewise, the grid supplemented base-case PV-E system capital cost was 66 dollars MM (441 dollars m S -2, 11.5 dollars W H2,P -1 ), and with solar-to-hydrogen and grid electrolysis system efficiencies of 9.8% and 61%, respectively, the LCH was 6.1 dollars kg-1 . As a benchmark, a proton-exchange membrane (PEM) based grid-connected electrolysis system was analyzed. Assuming a system efficiency of 61% and a grid electricity cost of $0.07 kWh -1 , the LCH was $5.5 kg -1 . A sensitivity analysis indicated that, relative to the base-case, increases in the system efficiency could effect the greatest cost reductions for all systems, due to the areal dependencies of many of the components. The balance-of-systems (BoS) costs were the largest factor in differentiating the PEC and PV-E systems. No single or combination of technical advancements based on currently demonstrated technology can provide sufficient cost reductions to allow solar hydrogen to directly compete on a levelized cost basis with hydrogen produced from fossil energy. Specifically, a cost of CO 2 greater than ~$800 dollars (ton CO2 ) -1 was estimated to be necessary for base-case PEC hydrogen to reach price parity with hydrogen derived from steam reforming of methane priced at $12 GJ -1 ($1.39 (kg H 2 ) -1). A comparison with low CO 2 and CO2 -neutral energy sources indicated that base-case PEC hydrogen is not currently cost-competitive with electrolysis using electricity supplied by nuclear power or from fossil-fuels in conjunction with carbon capture and storage. Solar electricity production and storage using either batteries or PEC hydrogen technologies are currently an order of magnitude greater in cost than electricity prices with no clear advantage to either battery or hydrogen storage as of yet. Significant advances in PEC technology performance and system cost reductions are necessary to enable cost-effective PEC-derived solar hydrogen for use in scalable grid-storage applications as well as for use as a chemical feedstock precursor to CO2 -neutral high energy-density transportation fuels. Hence such applications are an opportunity for foundational research to contribute to the development of disruptive approaches to solar fuels generation systems that can offer higher performance at much lower cost than is provided by current embodiments of solar fuels generators. Efforts to directly reduce CO2 photoelectrochemically or electrochemically could potentially produce products with higher value than hydrogen, but many, as yet unmet, challenges include catalytic efficiency and selectivity, and CO 2 mass transport rates and feedstock cost. Major breakthroughs are required to obtain viable economic costs for solar hydrogen production, but the barriers to achieve cost-competitiveness with existing large-scale thermochemical processes for CO2 reduction are even greater.},
doi = {10.1039/c5ee02573g},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1436115}, journal = {Energy & Environmental Science},
issn = {1754-5692},
number = 7,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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Cited by: 547 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: (a) Block diagram depicting the power flow through a PEC plant. The cell specifics for the Type 3 and 4 systems are shown in the insets. (b) Block diagram of the power flow through photovoltaic electrolysis (PV-E), grid assisted photovoltaic electrolysis (GSPV-E) and grid electrolysis plants.

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