Hydrogen production using wind energy from sea water: A case study on Southern and Northern coasts of Iran

Abstract

In recent decades, earth’s sharp population growth followed by increasing demand for energy has turned the energy and its current and future sources into much debated issues. Given the well-known consequences of excessive reliance on fossil energy sources, this study is concentrated on wind-powered hydrogen production by desalination of sea water and then subjecting the product to electrolysis. For this purpose, a coastal city was selected from each Iranian coastal province, and then the wind energy generation potential in these cities was evaluated by Weibull distribution function. The amount of energy to be generated by three commercially available wind turbines and the amount of desalinated water and hydrogen to be produced in each area were then evaluated. The results showed that the port of Anzali on the coast of the Caspian Sea has an average annual wind power density of 327 w/m2, and thus enjoys the best wind energy generation potential among the studied coastal areas. The annual energy generation to be achieved by one EWT direct wind 52/900 turbine installed in this port was found to be 2315.53 MWh, which is equivalent to 1804 tons of net annual CO2 emission reduction. The total energy output of the said turbine could be used to produce 439,950.7 m3 of treated water or 35,973.49 kg of hydrogen a year. Thus, a wind farm containing 55 of these turbines could provide enough power to produce the hydrogen needed to fuel all private cars in Anzali.