Assessment of the Potential for Hydrogen Production from Renewable Resources in Libya

Abstract

During the last two decades, renewable energy sources in Libya have been discussed through many research studies in certain locations. This paper proposes an assessment of hydrogen production using renewable energy resources in Libya, though introducing subsections of four zones: northeast (zone A), middle (zone B), northwest (zone C), and south (zone D). In total, the four zones include 25 cities distributed throughout all the state of Libya. The database of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for climate conditions, for over than 20 years, is used through an energy management software RETscreen. In this study two- different configurations are presented, for each one; the system mainly consists of two subsystems, an electrical power source, and a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer. In the electricity production using PV panels field, it is found that the power production in all Libyan zones can vary between 130 and 400 GWh/km <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> with high values in the summer time especially in zone D. While, if the wind energy is used to produce electricity, zone A has the highest potential electricity production fluctuates between 95 and 170 GWh/km <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> yearly. Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels and a wind turbine are used to produce electricity. This generated electricity is then used to drive an electrolyzer where water splits into hydrogen and oxygen. The solar electricity potential is introduced into the electrolysis unit to obtain hydrogen production capacity in each zone of the four zones of Libya. High hydrogen production for four zones is mainly observed in June and July, where the hydrogen production capacity is almost equal in the four zones. The zone D has the highest average hydrogen production by solar electricity of about 7623.855 tons/km <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> /year. Estimated results of production of the hydrogen mass were obtained for four zones after the introduction potential of wind electricity in the PEM electrolyzer. The average hydrogen production for the four zones are 3490.32, 2110.3, 2499.97, and 2761.103 tons/km <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> /year, respectively. The option of using renewable energy in Libya to produce both electricity and clean hydrogen by the electrolyzer is very promising because of the solar capabilities and wind speeds suitability of Libya.