Large scale hydrogen production from wind energy for the upgrading of bitumen from oil sands

There is considerable interest concerning sustainable, economically competitive and environmentally benign hydrogen production pathways. In this study, a large scale wind-hydrogen plant is assessed for the production of electrolytic hydrogen, for the servicing of the oil sands bitumen upgrading industry in Western Canada. The wind-hydrogen plant proposed has a capacity of 563 MW, along with the dual functionality of hydrogen production and electricity generation; with the delivery of hydrogen to the bitumen upgrader via pipeline. The research carried out involved the development of a data intensive techno-economic model in tandem with a simulation model of the plant. Several plant configurations were assessed to determine the optimum electrolyzer size and quantity – which would translate into the minimum hydrogen production cost (including delivery). The optimal plant configuration consists of 80 units of the 3496 kW (760 Nm3/h) electrolyzer, which yields a minimum hydrogen production cost of $8.43 and $7.84/kg of H2 with and without delivery. Therefore, currently, hydrogen production from wind energy remains uncompetitive relative to conventional fossil fuel hydrogen pathways.