Profitability of Hydrogen-Based Microgrids: A Novel Economic Analysis in Terms of Electricity Price and Equipment Costs

Abstract

The current need to reduce carbon emissions makes hydrogen use essential for self-consumption in microgrids. To make a profitability analysis of a microgrid, the influence of equipment costs and the electricity price must be known. This paper studies the cost-effective electricity price (EUR/kWh) for a microgrid located at ‘’La Rábida Campus’’ (University of Huelva, south of Spain), for two different energy-management systems (EMSs): hydrogen-priority strategy and battery-priority strategy. The profitability analysis is based, on one hand, on the hydrogen-systems’ cost reduction (%) and, on the other hand, considering renewable energy sources (RESs) and energy storage systems (ESSs), on cost reduction (%). Due to technological advances, microgrid-element costs are expected to decrease over time; therefore, future profitable electricity prices will be even lower. Results show a cost-effective electricity price ranging from 0.61 EUR/kWh to 0.16 EUR/kWh for hydrogen-priority EMSs and from 0.4 EUR/kWh to 0.17 EUR/kWh for battery-priority EMSs (0 and 100% hydrogen-system cost reduction, respectively). These figures still decrease sharply if RES and ESS cost reductions are considered. In the current scenario of uncertainty in electricity prices, the microgrid studied may become economically competitive in the near future.