Techno-Economic and Environmental Assessment of Solar and Wind-Based Hydrogen Production: A Case Study in Vietnam

This study aims to assess the techno-economic and environmental feasibility of green hydrogen production in Vietnam, leveraging the country’s abundant solar and wind energy resources. The primary objective is to identify optimal locations for hydrogen production plants and determine the most cost-effective and sustainable energy configurations—solar photovoltaic, wind turbine, or hybrid systems. The study employs a dual methodology combining simulation and multi-criteria decision-making to achieve this target. Renewable energy potential and hydrogen output are simulated using MATLAB based on actual meteorological and infrastructure data from Vietnamese provinces. Economic indicators such as levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), internal rate of return, and payback period are calculated. Concurrently, the Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio (SWARA) method is used to determine the relative importance of various decision criteria, and the Weighted Aggregates Sum-Product Assessment (WASPAS) method is applied to rank the optimal locations for hydrogen production. The findings reveal that hydrogen production from solar energy offers the lowest cost (LCOH of 1.24 USD/kg in Binh Thuan), followed by the hybrid configuration (LCOH of 1.59 USD/kg in Binh Thuan), and wind-only systems (LCOH of 1.65 USD/kg in Quang Binh). Environmental analysis also shows significant CO2 emission reductions, with wind-based systems achieving up to 2.255 tCO2/MW/year. The novelty of this study lies in its integrated approach, combining detailed techno-economic and environmental simulation with expert-informed decision analysis to support green hydrogen infrastructure planning. It is one of the first studies to offer a provincial-level hydrogen roadmap for Vietnam, providing valuable insights for policymakers, investors, and energy planners.