Techno-economic-environmental assessment of green hydrogen and ammonia synthesis using solar and wind resources for three selected sites in Egypt

Abstract

The primary motivation of the present study is to mitigate the severe impact of ongoing energy resource shortages, while offering clean and sustainable energy carriers, such as hydrogen and ammonia. The present system mainly encompasses water splitting and the Haber-Bosch (HB) processes for green hydrogen and ammonia synthesis using solar and wind power, respectively. Pointwise quantification analyses are conducted to quantify the power, hydrogen, and ammonia as well as the economic parameters, specifically the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), and levelized cost of ammonia (LCOA). This analysis is based on meteorological data from three sites in Egypt, considering the specific water and nitrogen requirements for hydrogen and ammonia synthesis, respectively. Furthermore, carbon dioxide mitigation from solar and wind systems is estimated. These respective sites are Jarjoub on the coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea, and Ain Sokhna and Jabal Al-Zait on the coastlines of the Red Sea. The results indicate that the lowest values of LCOE, LCOH, and LCOA are 12.58 $/MWh, 1.91 $/kg H2, and 396.1 $/Ton NH3, respectively, which were attained using solar resources at Ain Sokhna geographical site at the Red Sea. Besides, Jarjoub, which is located in the Mediterranean Sea, could attain LCOH of 2.15 $/kg, which is still a promising option due to its export potential to Europe. However, the use of wind resources is incompetent for solar counterparts in the respective sites; their potential application in Egypt is still promising. The results demonstrate that Jabal Al-Zait stands as a favorable location for green power, hydrogen, and ammonia synthesis using wind resources, which has LCOE, LCOH, and LCOA of 23.67 $/MWh, 2.75 $/kg H2, and 547.8 $/Ton NH3, respectively.