An integrated framework of open-source tools for designing and evaluating green hydrogen production opportunities

Abstract

Extensive scaling of green hydrogen to meet net-zero targets would need the integration of suitable resources, high renewable energy potential and achievement of supporting techno-economic parameters to establish viable hydrogen projects. Herein, we propose a comprehensive four-tier framework based on specially designed open-source tools that build upon existing knowledge by providing (i) zoning filters to identify potential green hydrogen hubs, (ii) Multi-Criteria Analysis to compare and rank the selected sites, (iii) a production cost tool that allows analysis of 24 different electrolyzer – powerplant design scenarios and (iv) a python based algorithm that establishes the capacity mixes of electrolyzer, powerplant and battery energy storage system required to achieve cost or operational capacity factor targets. The framework is then applied to Australia, where 41 potential sites are used as a case study for comparing their green hydrogen generation potential and costs, benchmarked against international targets of $2 kg−1.