A Technical and Economical Assessment of Hydrogen Production Potential from Solar Energy in Adrar, Algeria

Hydrogen is an attractive fuel if it is produced from renewable energy sources (RES). The most ecological approache of green hydrogen generation, today, is the water electrolysis using RES. The present paper investigates the viability of hydrogen production from the solar energy resources of Adrar province (Lat: 27°52’N, Long: 0°17’W, Alt: 257m A.S.L) in Algeria using accurate monthly solar radiation mathematical model. Some of the key results exhibited that the daily average month solar energy varies from 3.93 Kwh to 8.79 Kwh in Adrar. Polycrystalline photovoltaic (PV) panel with 175 Wp rated power and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer are employed. The required economic study is conducted to calculate the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and hydrogen (LCOH2). The final results reveal that the annual hydrogen production ranges between 3.06×10
⁵
and 6.77×10
⁵
Kg in 1 Km
²
surface. Furthermore, cost of hydrogen production from solar resources in Adrar is competitive, where the price of 1 Kg of hydrogen is 3.51 $.