Techno-economic analysis of solar powered hydrogen production in vicinity of Swedish steel industries

Sammanfattning: The world’s steel industries account for 7% of the global CO2 emissions and the demand for steel is estimated to increase in the near future. Swedish steel manufactures are investigating processes to produce steel in an environmental friendly way. One attractive option is to include hydrogen gas as much as possible in the processes. This thesis investigates hydrogen production from solar power in vicinity of 7 different steel producing facilities in Sweden. The objective is to construct systems with electrolyzers, PV and storage to possibly lower the cost of operation as well as lowering the CO2 emissions. The types of industries investigated are divided into two groups. The first group consists of industries with no current hydrogen demand. These industries are evaluated with a system which produces hydrogen from PV during the summer and storing it until winter when electricity prices increase. Then the hydrogen is converted back to electricity with a fuel cell. The second group consists of industries with a existing demand of hydrogen. These industries are evaluated with a system similar to the first, but the hydrogen is used in gasous form in melt-shops and furnaces, not as a source for electricity. The systems are evaluated on two parameters; the change in CO2 emissions and NPV. The system for group one showed a negative NPV for all industries, as well as an increase of CO2 emissions. The system for group two showed both positive NPV and a decrease in CO2 emissions compared to operations as it is done today. As a conclusion of this thesis, industries would benefit from producing their own hydrogen gas at the facilities if they use it as a raw product. If it shall be used as storage for electricity usage, the storage cost today are too high.