Fundamentals of hydrogen production and use in a decarbonising power system

Fundamentals of hydrogen production and use in a decarbonising power system | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Fundamentals of hydrogen production and use in a decarbonising power system Vinzenz Koning, Gert Jan Kramer, Wouter van de Graaf This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4924508/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Stand-alone hydrogen production from cheap renewable power, notably solar, has received considerable attention as a way to produce fuel and feedstock for a future climate-neutral energy system. Here we assess the integration of green hydrogen production and the deployment of electrolysers with a power system that is progressively decarbonized by the deployment of intermittent renewables, viz. wind and solar. We find that full power system decarbonisation is cost-optimal for a renewable power mix that includes a strong wind component. For this power mix, electrolyser deployment kicks in only at around 70% grid decarbonisation. Beyond this point, electrolyser build-out scales linearly with further renewables deployment. The electrolyser-to-renewables deployment ratio depends strongly on the solar and wind mix but is fairly insensitive to relative costs of electrolysers to renewables. Finally, we find a substantial cost advantage for the coproduction of green power and green hydrogen compared to stand-alone green hydrogen production. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy modelling Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Renewable energy Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy storage/Hydrogen storage Full Text Additional Declarations Yes there is potential Competing Interest. W.G. is affiliated with N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie, a consortium member of the North Sea Wind Power Hub. N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie is a state-owned company that transports natural gas and has an interest in transporting hydrogen. The other authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.docx SupplementalDataS1.xlsx Supplementary Data S1 SupplementalDataS2.xlsx Supplementary Data S2 SupplementalVideoS1.gif Supplementary video S1 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4924508","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":343800678,"identity":"acecd119-f680-4aa5-bcaa-3768d397fcfe","order_by":0,"name":"Vinzenz Koning","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAoElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACNiA2YGDgB3MKSNEi2cAAYRCpBaT4ALFaDA6wJT4uKLhjt/lGjgFzAZFaDhvPMHiWvA2kZQYxWiQb2NukeQwOJ5uBtPCQpMV4BrFa+BnYjoG02BlIEK2FmS3ZGKglQeLMs4LDRGlhY28zfMzz57A9f3vyxsc8FURoYWCGUIkNQOIAMRrgwJ4k1aNgFIyCUTCyAAB2LCrh/RdXcAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4044-2842","institution":"Utrecht University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Vinzenz","middleName":"","lastName":"Koning","suffix":""},{"id":343800679,"identity":"5d029380-0e32-4830-83ba-3a12100bb8aa","order_by":1,"name":"Gert Jan Kramer","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8983-4516","institution":"Utrecht University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Gert","middleName":"Jan","lastName":"Kramer","suffix":""},{"id":343800680,"identity":"eab0e2e0-37fa-4d18-9647-a45e2bfc8657","order_by":2,"name":"Wouter van de Graaf","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9056-4365","institution":"N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wouter","middleName":"van","lastName":"de Graaf","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-08-16 10:40:48","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4924508/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4924508/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":100858229,"identity":"9746d484-90ad-4d26-8033-8dfd0dd2a890","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-22 07:24:04","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2303932,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Fundamentalsofhydrogenproductionanduse.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4924508/v1_covered_924e48e8-1eed-434c-95ef-bf535e49ecec.pdf"},{"id":63090707,"identity":"d9963bf0-c80b-431f-a853-e15bfc7af345","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-23 04:13:56","extension":"docx","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":833740,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformation.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4924508/v1/22f5e4c7e3531ac319092a29.docx"},{"id":63090706,"identity":"7bf18c33-5460-4105-8965-d7ff592c60f7","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-23 04:13:56","extension":"xlsx","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":24317,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Data S1","description":"","filename":"SupplementalDataS1.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4924508/v1/70a9c8da382f2834e040a51c.xlsx"},{"id":63090705,"identity":"1b094859-e159-4f5e-a402-0f65ce5d5363","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-23 04:13:56","extension":"xlsx","order_by":3,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":540706,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary Data S2","description":"","filename":"SupplementalDataS2.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4924508/v1/227030c2726437d3cfe11a1f.xlsx"},{"id":63090708,"identity":"df54916f-90e6-4945-8a53-a45aa5fa6697","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-08-23 04:13:56","extension":"gif","order_by":4,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":19628533,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Supplementary video S1","description":"","filename":"SupplementalVideoS1.gif","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4924508/v1/5e8dd5f5e064a162cb4c3025.gif"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cb\u003eYes\u003c/b\u003e there is potential Competing Interest.\nW.G. is affiliated with N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie, a consortium member of the North Sea Wind Power Hub. N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie is a state-owned company that transports natural gas and has an interest in transporting hydrogen. The other authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"Fundamentals of hydrogen production and use in a decarbonising power system","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4924508/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4924508/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eStand-alone hydrogen production from cheap renewable power, notably solar, has received considerable attention as a way to produce fuel and feedstock for a future climate-neutral energy system. Here we assess the integration of green hydrogen production and the deployment of electrolysers with a power system that is progressively decarbonized by the deployment of intermittent renewables, \u003cem\u003eviz.\u003c/em\u003e wind and solar. We find that full power system decarbonisation is cost-optimal for a renewable power mix that includes a strong wind component. For this power mix, electrolyser deployment kicks in only at around 70% grid decarbonisation. Beyond this point, electrolyser build-out scales linearly with further renewables deployment. The electrolyser-to-renewables deployment ratio depends strongly on the solar and wind mix but is fairly insensitive to relative costs of electrolysers to renewables. Finally, we find a substantial cost advantage for the coproduction of green power and green hydrogen compared to stand-alone green hydrogen production.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Fundamentals of hydrogen production and use in a decarbonising power system","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-08-23 04:13:51","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4924508/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"664e6d45-fde6-4427-9bca-7bdfbe1ea5ad","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 23rd, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":36433476,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy modelling"},{"id":36433477,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Renewable energy"},{"id":36433478,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology/Energy storage/Hydrogen storage"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-01-21T16:18:15+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-08-23 04:13:51","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4924508","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4924508","identity":"rs-4924508","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}