Wind farms off the coast of New York could power green hydrogen production at below $2 a kilogram by 2030, say researchers at the US state-funded National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
They evaluated four different scenarios to calculate the potential “levelised cost” of a wind-hydrogen system and concluded that fixed-bottom wind farms in the body of water known as the New York Bight would get closest to the US Department of Energy’s goal of producing green hydrogen at $1/kg by 2031.
Green hydrogen is an emissions-free fuel made by separating hydrogen and oxygen from water molecules by electrolysis, an energy-intensive process.
Using renewable electricity to do that makes hydrogen green, compared to processes that use fossil-fuel-based energy.
Better than Gulf of Mexico
The New York scenario beat a system simulated in the Gulf of Mexico because of the northern region’s higher wind speeds.
It also beat much deeper waters off the coast of northern California and in the Gulf of Maine, where the turbines would have to float.
It assumed offshore wind powering electrolysis onshore through high-voltage cables, rather than putting the hydrogen production out at sea as well.
Storing the hydrogen in underground caverns would help keep costs down, researchers said.
“Both offshore wind and clean hydrogen production are technologies that are rapidly evolving and when combined have the potential to generate and store a lot of renewable energy and decarbonise sectors that are hard to electrify,” said Kaitlin Brunik, hybrid systems research engineer at NREL and lead author of the paper.
The US Bureau of Ocean Management is preparing to lease six sites in New York Bight for wind power development.
Trump says no
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has vowed to scrap wind-power development on the first day in office if he wins the November election.
“They destroy everything, they’re horrible, the most expensive energy there is,” he said of offshore turbines at a rally in May, reports The Guardian.
“They ruin the environment, they kill the birds, they kill the whales,” he added without giving evidence.
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