Offshore Wind Farms for Hydrogen Production Subject to Uncertainties

Wind power is a source of clean, nonpolluting electricity, which is quite competitive, if installed at favorable wind sites, with fossil fuel and nuclear power generation. Wind power is an intermittent electricity generator; which does not provide electric power on an “as needed” basis. The major challenge in wind energy assessment is how accurately the wind energy can be predicted and the capital investment cost is estimated. Therefore, wind energy is subject to some uncertainties, which must be accounted for to provide meaningful and reliable estimates of performance and economic figures-of-merit. Off-peak power from wind farms can be utilized for hydrogen production using water electrolysis. This study applies methods of risk analysis to evaluate the simultaneous effect of multiple input uncertainties, and provide an assessment of the-techno-economic viability of offshore wind farms for electrolytic hydrogen production. The capacity factor of wind turbine has a dominant effect on the wind power economy.Copyright © 2003 by ASME