Levelised cost of hydrogen from a dedicated offshore wind farm

The global hydrogen economy is currently at inception. Forecasts suggest that hydrogen could deliver 10% of global energy by 2050. The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) forecast the UK will consume 220TWh.H2/yr in 2050 of which 95TWh will be derived from electrolysis. UK electrical power demand is expected to double to >600TWhe/yr by 2050, with the majority coming from offshore wind (OSW). Around the UK there are marine regions rich in wind resource, but remote from centres of population. Exploiting these wind resources conventionally would require expensive upgrades to the electrical transmission system; direct production of hydrogen offers an alternative energy vector. Hydrogen production from OSW appears an inevitability, and in certain regions potentially financially advantageous. This report picks up from work prepared by the University of Cork, and presents a 510MW OSW, consisting of 34 fixed bottom, 15MW Wind Turbine Generators (WTG). The primary metric adopted is the Levelised Cost of Hydrogen (LCoH). Sensitivities for electrolyser capacity, Discount Rate (DR), and electrolyser efficiency were examined. The base model returned an LCoH of £5.69/Kg.H2 with a DR equal to 6%.