Techno-economic study of hydrogen production using CSP technology

There are different processes for hydrogen production and different sources of energy could be used to drive these processes. However, a hydrogen production technique won't insure market penetration unless it succeeds in securing the economic competitiveness. In the present work, techno-economic study of the solar-electrolysis based hydrogen production techniques is carried out. The present study is limited to the case of hydrogen production using a hybrid solar parabolic trough-gas power plant-electrolysis system. The effect on hydrogen production cost of different factors, such the direct normal irradiance and the solar fraction are investigated. This technique of hydrogen production is considered for the case of Algeria. In order to determine the effect of the climatic conditions on the cost of hydrogen production, two different sites have been chosen: one in Northern Algeria and the other one in Southern Algeria. The results indicate that the cost of hydrogen production is dominated by the cost of hydrogen related to the cost of energy production. This cost is highly dependent on solar fraction and solar insolation. The results show also that solar CSP based hydrogen production technique is more competitive than the conventional PV based hydrogen production technique but as competitive or less competitive than CPV based hydrogen production technique. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.