A thorough analysis of renewable hydrogen projects development in Uzbekistan using MCDM methods

The energy supply system of Uzbekistan is not well positioned to meet the rapidly rising domestic energy demand of this country. Uzbekistan's current energy supply system is outdated and has very low diversity, as most of its energy comes from natural gas. In addition to producing immense amounts of greenhouse gas and environmental pollution, this situation is untenable considering the eventual depletion of fossil fuel reserves of this country. Uzbekistan's renewable energy sector is highly undeveloped, a situation that can be attributed to the lack of coherent policies for the advancement of renewable power and the low price of natural gas. However, this country has significant untapped renewable potentials, especially wind energy, that can perform a significant performance in the country's power generation plans. Also, producing hydrogen from renewable power can provide a good alternative to fossil fuels and help meet the needs of the Uzbek industrial sector, especially oil, gas, and petrochemical industries. In this study, the suitability of 17 regions in Uzbekistan for wind-powered hydrogen production was analyzed in terms of 16 sub-criteria in four categories of technical, economic, social, and environmental factors. To obtain robust results, the ranking was performed using a hybrid of BWM and EDAS, as well as WASPAS, ARAS, and WSM techniques. The weighting results exhibited the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE), Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH), and Annual Energy Production (AEP) to be the most important sub-criteria for this evaluation. Nukus, Buhara, and Kungrad were introduced as the top three most appropriate locations for hydrogen development from wind plants. It was estimated that using 2000 kW turbines, a windpowered hydrogen production plant built in the Nukus region can achieve an annual power output of 4432.7 MW and annual hydrogen output of 71.752 tons. (c) 2021 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Uzbekistan's energy supply system is outdated and lacks diversity, mainly relying on natural gas. The underdeveloped renewable energy sector in the country has the potential for significant growth, especially in wind energy and hydrogen. Developing renewable energy sources could help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels in Uzbekistan. However, there is a lack of coherent policies and the low price of natural gas have hindered progress in the renewable energy sector.