Hydrogen production from wind energy in Western Canada for upgrading bitumen from oil sands

Hydrogen is produced via steam methane reforming (SMR) for bitumen upgrading which results in significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Wind energy based hydrogen can reduce the GHG footprint of the bitumen upgrading industry. This paper is aimed at developing a detailed data-intensive techno-economic model for assessment of hydrogen production from wind energy via the electrolysis of water. The proposed wind/hydrogen plant is based on an expansion of an existing wind farm with unit wind turbine size of 1.8 MW and with a dual functionality of hydrogen production and electricity generation. An electrolyser size of 240 kW (50 Nm(3) H(2)/h) and 360 kW (90 Nm(3) H(2)/h) proved to be the optimal sizes for constant and variable flow rate electrolysers, respectively. The electrolyser sizes aforementioned yielded a minimum hydrogen production price at base case conditions of $10.15/kg H(2) and $7.55/kg H(2). The inclusion of a Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) of $0.13/kWh renders the production price of hydrogen equal to SMR i.e. $0.96/kg H(2), with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 24%. The minimum hydrogen delivery cost was $4.96/kg H(2) at base case conditions. The life cycle CO(2) emissions is 6.35 kg CO(2)/kg H(2) including hydrogen delivery to the upgrader via compressed gas trucks. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.