IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v377y2025ipds0306261924020762.html

Optimization of operational strategies for industrial applications of solar-based green hydrogen

Author

Listed:
  • Bak, Youngseok
  • Ryu, Hyuncheol
  • Choi, Gobong
  • Lee, Dongwoo
  • Lee, Jong Min

Abstract

Renewable-based green hydrogen is emerging as a viable solution for decarbonizing energy-intensive industries. However, the fluctuating and intermittent nature of renewable energy sources requires careful consideration of operational strategies to ensure the safe and economical use of green hydrogen in industrial applications. This study examines the influence of operational strategies for electrolyzers and downstream processes on the cost of solar-based green hydrogen. The results demonstrate that optimal operational strategies for electrolyzers significantly impact the sizes of batteries and electrolyzers, reducing the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) by an average of 5.3%. Case studies further demonstrate that decentralized end-user supply strategies and cooperation with downstream processes can reduce LCOH by up to 39.8% for fully distributed end-users and by 24.2% with the introduction of supply tolerance. Additionally, the study evaluates the impact of grid backup, revealing that grid utilization can reduce LCOH by 12.9% in Houston, underscoring the potential for further cost reductions through grid decarbonization. These findings highlight the importance of optimizing operational strategies to improve the economic performance and market viability of green hydrogen systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Bak, Youngseok & Ryu, Hyuncheol & Choi, Gobong & Lee, Dongwoo & Lee, Jong Min, 2025. "Optimization of operational strategies for industrial applications of solar-based green hydrogen," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 377(PD).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:377:y:2025:i:pd:s0306261924020762
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124693
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924020762
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124693?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Park, Joungho & Hwan Ryu, Kyung & Kim, Chang-Hee & Chul Cho, Won & Kim, MinJoong & Hun Lee, Jae & Cho, Hyun-Seok & Lee, Jay H., 2023. "Green hydrogen to tackle the power curtailment: Meteorological data-based capacity factor and techno-economic analysis," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    2. Superchi, Francesco & Mati, Alessandro & Carcasci, Carlo & Bianchini, Alessandro, 2023. "Techno-economic analysis of wind-powered green hydrogen production to facilitate the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors: A case study on steelmaking," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).
    3. Lee, Ju-Sung & Cherif, Ali & Yoon, Ha-Jun & Seo, Seung-Kwon & Bae, Ju-Eon & Shin, Ho-Jin & Lee, Chulgu & Kwon, Hweeung & Lee, Chul-Jin, 2022. "Large-scale overseas transportation of hydrogen: Comparative techno-economic and environmental investigation," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    4. Sengupta, Manajit & Xie, Yu & Lopez, Anthony & Habte, Aron & Maclaurin, Galen & Shelby, James, 2018. "The National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB)," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 51-60.
    5. Michael A. Giovanniello & Anna N. Cybulsky & Tim Schittekatte & Dharik S. Mallapragada, 2024. "The influence of additionality and time-matching requirements on the emissions from grid-connected hydrogen production," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 9(2), pages 197-207, February.
    6. Xi Yang & Chris P. Nielsen & Shaojie Song & Michael B. McElroy, 2022. "Breaking the hard-to-abate bottleneck in China’s path to carbon neutrality with clean hydrogen," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 7(10), pages 955-965, October.
    7. Terlouw, Tom & AlSkaif, Tarek & Bauer, Christian & van Sark, Wilfried, 2019. "Optimal energy management in all-electric residential energy systems with heat and electricity storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    8. Gabrielli, Paolo & Gazzani, Matteo & Martelli, Emanuele & Mazzotti, Marco, 2018. "Optimal design of multi-energy systems with seasonal storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 408-424.
    9. Buttler, Alexander & Spliethoff, Hartmut, 2018. "Current status of water electrolysis for energy storage, grid balancing and sector coupling via power-to-gas and power-to-liquids: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 82(P3), pages 2440-2454.
    10. Ghenai, Chaouki & Bettayeb, Maamar, 2019. "Modelling and performance analysis of a stand-alone hybrid solar PV/Fuel Cell/Diesel Generator power system for university building," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 180-189.
    11. Papakonstantinou, Georgios & Algara-Siller, Gerardo & Teschner, Detre & Vidaković-Koch, Tanja & Schlögl, Robert & Sundmacher, Kai, 2020. "Degradation study of a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer under dynamic operation conditions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    12. María Villarreal Vives, Ana & Wang, Ruiqi & Roy, Sumit & Smallbone, Andrew, 2023. "Techno-economic analysis of large-scale green hydrogen production and storage," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 346(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Driemeier, Carlos E. & Tonon, Giovana C. & Chagas, Mateus F. & Petrielli, Gabriel P. & Henzler, Daniele S. & Gomes, Luísa C.M. & Limeira, Bruno E. & Hernandes, Thayse A.D. & Morais, Edvaldo R., 2025. "Electrolytic hydrogen in a large-scale decarbonized grid with energy reservoirs: An assessment of carbon intensity and integrity," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 391(C).
    2. Keller, Roger & Baader, Florian Joseph & Bardow, André & Müller, Martin & Peters, Ralf, 2025. "Experimental demonstration of dynamic demand response scheduling for PEM-electrolyzers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 393(C).
    3. Kim, Sunwoo & Choi, Yechan & Park, Joungho & Adams, Derrick & Heo, Seongmin & Lee, Jay H., 2024. "Multi-period, multi-timescale stochastic optimization model for simultaneous capacity investment and energy management decisions for hybrid Micro-Grids with green hydrogen production under uncertainty," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 190(PA).
    4. Li, Longquan & Aravind, Purushothaman Vellayani & Boldrini, Annika & van den Broek, Machteld, 2025. "Techno-economic assessment of off-grid hydrogen supply from distant solar or wind sources to steelmaking," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 391(C).
    5. Svitnič, Tibor & Sundmacher, Kai, 2022. "Renewable methanol production: Optimization-based design, scheduling and waste-heat utilization with the FluxMax approach," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    6. Wang, Wenting & Yang, Dazhi & Huang, Nantian & Lyu, Chao & Zhang, Gang & Han, Xueying, 2022. "Irradiance-to-power conversion based on physical model chain: An application on the optimal configuration of multi-energy microgrid in cold climate," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    7. Lifeng Du & Yanmei Yang & Luli Zhou & Min Liu, 2024. "Greenhouse Gas Reduction Potential and Economics of Green Hydrogen via Water Electrolysis: A Systematic Review of Value-Chain-Wide Decarbonization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-37, May.
    8. Chi, Yingtian & Lin, Jin & Li, Peiyang & Yu, Zhipeng & Mu, Shujun & Li, Xi & Song, Yonghua, 2024. "Elevating the acceptable cost threshold for solid oxide cells: A case study on refinery decarbonization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 373(C).
    9. Pilotti, Lorenzo & Castelli, Alessandro Francesco & Martelli, Emanuele, 2025. "Optimal design of fully renewable and dispatchable power plants with hydrogen seasonal storage," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    10. Li, Zichen & Xia, Yanghong & Bo, Yaolong & Wei, Wei, 2024. "Optimal planning for electricity-hydrogen integrated energy system considering multiple timescale operations and representative time-period selection," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    11. Wang, Jing & Kang, Lixia & Huang, Xiankun & Liu, Yongzhong, 2021. "An analysis framework for quantitative evaluation of parametric uncertainty in a cooperated energy storage system with multiple energy carriers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C).
    12. van der Roest, Els & Snip, Laura & Fens, Theo & van Wijk, Ad, 2020. "Introducing Power-to-H3: Combining renewable electricity with heat, water and hydrogen production and storage in a neighbourhood," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 257(C).
    13. Marzi, Emanuela & Morini, Mirko & Saletti, Costanza & Vouros, Stavros & Zaccaria, Valentina & Kyprianidis, Konstantinos & Gambarotta, Agostino, 2023. "Power-to-Gas for energy system flexibility under uncertainty in demand, production and price," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    14. Miao, Huiying & Yu, Yadong & Wan, Yanming & Zhang, Yan & Ma, Tieju, 2024. "Levelized cost of long-distance large-scale transportation of hydrogen in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    15. Shi, Shujing & Pan, Yuzhe & Li, Yihang & Wang, Hao & Lu, Youjun, 2026. "Capacity configuration and optimization of an off-grid wind-solar-hydrogen integrated system considering hybrid hydrogen production with alkaline electrolyzers and proton exchange membrane electrolyzers," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    16. Axel Riccardo Massulli & Lorenzo Mario Pastore & Gianluigi Lo Basso & Livio de Santoli, 2025. "Synergistic Coupling of Waste Heat and Power to Gas via PEM Electrolysis for District Heating Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-18, September.
    17. Sayed-Ahmed, H. & Toldy, Á.I. & Santasalo-Aarnio, A., 2024. "Dynamic operation of proton exchange membrane electrolyzers—Critical review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 189(PA).
    18. Jia, Wenhao & Ding, Tao & He, Yuhan, 2026. "Synergistic integration of green hydrogen in renewable power systems: A comprehensive review of key technologies, research landscape, and future perspectives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 226(PD).
    19. Park, Gye Hyun & Hong, Sanghyun & Percy, Steven & Kim, Seung Wan, 2025. "Techno-economic feasibility study of imported green hydrogen via inter-continental route: From Australia to South Korea," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 397(C).
    20. Yang, Guoming & Yang, Dazhi & Liu, Bai & Zhang, Hao, 2024. "The role of short- and long-duration energy storage in reducing the cost of firm photovoltaic generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 374(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:377:y:2025:i:pd:s0306261924020762. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.