The development of the hydrogen economy depends on the creation of both centralized and distributed hydrogen production and distribution systems. Hydrogen hubs will play a key role here, which are particularly important from the perspective of increasing the use of renewable energy sources and on-site hydrogen production.
Hydrogen will be an integral element of the global energy transformation, which involves moving away from conventional fuels and decarbonizing the energy, industrial, and mobility sectors. Its combustion does not generate emissions, and the only products are energy and water.
However, if we want to talk about real emission reductions, we should pay attention to the source of the new fuel. Although about 120 Mt of hydrogen is currently being produced worldwide, production methods are mainly based on conventional fuels, which translates into emissions of 830-900 Mt per year.
Therefore, hydrogen strategies around the world focus on the development of technologies and projects enabling the production of renewable hydrogen. Its production is based on electrolysis, i.e. the separation of water under the influence of electric voltage into its components – hydrogen and oxygen. Electrolysis is carried out in hydrogen and oxygen generators, commonly called electrolyzers. Importantly, to talk about completely zero-emission hydrogen, the energy necessary for the process should come from renewable sources – wind, solar, or water energy.
The implementation of hydrogen technologies with the simultaneous use of renewable sources fits into the EU objectives of increasing the total share of renewable sources in the energy mix, thanks to increasing the efficiency of installations and the potential of their use. Energy from renewable energy sources is characterized by seasonality and periods of increased demand (autumn and winter) do not always coincide with periods of increased supply (spring and summer). This applies in particular to PV installations, the efficiency of which varies not only annually, but also daily.
More complete use of clean energy, especially in periods of surplus, through the production of hydrogen for many applications, as well as storage in the perspective of several months, is the key to the transformation of demanding sectors. Combining the production of green hydrogen with renewable energy sources in the investment area or through a direct connection will be ensured by hydrogen hubs.
What is a hydrogen hub?
The term defines integrated hydrogen ecosystems, often in local or regional reference, and is often used interchangeably with the term hydrogen clusters or valleys, which usually cover a larger geographical area.
Regardless of the term used, a hydrogen hub encompasses all the infrastructure necessary to produce, store, distribute, and/or transport hydrogen, considering the end use of hydrogen in various applications such as professional, distributed, and industrial power generation, as a fuel in transportation, a substrate in manufacturing processes or systems for producing its derivatives.
Hydrogen hubs are also often referred to as “mini hydrogen economies” because they can be large-scale projects and cover most of the supply chain in a given region. In this way, they ensure that hydrogen supply and demand are combined across multiple applications, while increasing scale, maximizing asset utilization, and reducing costs.
However, these are not only large projects carried out in consortia over a larger geographic area, which is observed in the United States or Australia. The hydrogen hub is also a specific solution addressed to individual enterprises, investments, or housing estates, to produce and use renewable hydrogen for their needs.
This solution also includes renewable energy installations, hydrogen production, storage, and distribution infrastructure. Depending on the end use, it may include the use of fuel cells, hydrogen heat production installations, and the use of hydrogen in production processes. This is a full-scale solution that will meet investors’ demand for hydrogen and energy, ensuring the security and stability of supplies.
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Renewable energy hydrogen hubs – stable production of green hydrogen
Simulations and analyses carried out by SES Hydrogen Energy prove that with the optimal configuration of the hub, it is possible to achieve stable hydrogen production, the cost of which will be competitive already at this stage, and the hub itself will be independent of external factors such as the changing situation in the fuel and energy markets.
Hydrogen hubs that produce green hydrogen assume investment in renewable energy sources or the use of existing farms that, for various reasons, have not obtained conditions for connection to the national electric power system. The hub can operate in two configurations – completely autonomous (off-grid) and with the possibility of connecting to the grid (on-grid). Then they are characterized by different parameters of the amount of hydrogen storage. In both cases, the RES installations supply the electrolyzer unit with electricity of sufficient quality. In an on-grid configuration, the hub is also powered by a relatively small amount of power from the grid to keep the device’s performance up to par.
The choice of RES capacity always depends on the chosen location, but simulations prove that in most cases, if possible, it is best to build both wind and solar sources. In this way, we achieve more stable operation of the power plant due to the mentioned seasonality.
To increase the profitability of projects at this stage of development, the hubs must be built as close as possible to the place of destination, which will directly reduce transport costs. With appropriate optimization of the hub’s operation, we will achieve profitability of hydrogen production today, which is necessary for the decarbonization of key sectors.
