Estimation of the levelized cost of green hydrogen from alkaline and proton ex-change membrane electrolysis in Finnish market circumstances

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Volume Title

Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu | Master's thesis

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Date

2023-06-12

Department

Major/Subject

Sustainable Energy Systems and Markets

Mcode

ELEC3048

Degree programme

Master's Programme in Advanced Energy Solutions

Language

en

Pages

69

Series

Abstract

Renewable energy fuelled electrolysis for producing green hydrogen is seen as a key technology to decarbonize the hard-to-abate industries in the Nordics. It could outbalance the growing, fluctuating wind and photovoltaic production as a mid- to long term energy carrier in Finland. However, the biggest part of hydrogen demand is still covered by grey hydrogen and therefore causing climate change accelerating emissions. Viable pathways to lower the cost of green hydrogen must be identified urgently. In this Thesis the levelized cost of green hydrogen are estimated for two mature electrolysis technologies in the years 2020 and 2050. Grey hydrogen from steam methane reforming is taken as the base scenario. To support the cost the estimation, a survey is conducted among hydrogen experts in Finland with the aim to identify the political, social, economic, and technological barriers of the green hydrogen development. The cost analysis shows the potential for proton exchange membrane electrolyzers to be the most cost-competitive green hydrogen solution in the long-term, with production costs below 2 € per produced kg of hydrogen. Whereas alkaline electrolyzers may reach less stack life-time hours and electrical efficiency until 2050, which directly affect its costs compared to proton exchange membrane technologies. Steam methane reforming shows the highest production costs until 2050, if the carbon price projections and higher natural gas are going to be realized. In the expert survey, most of the stakeholders point out the unclear EU regulation regarding green hydrogen, which makes it challenging to plan long-term MW-scale investments, especially when it comes to standardisation and how “low-carbon”, and “green” hydrogen is defined.

Description

Supervisor

Santasalo-Aarnio, Annukka

Thesis advisor

Cross, Samuel

Keywords

green hydrogen, levelized cost of hydrogen, PEM, ALK, LCOH, SMR

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Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202306184043

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[dipl] Sähkötekniikan korkeakoulu / ELEC