Economic and environmental valuation of green hydrogen decarbonisation process for price responsive multi-energy industry prosumer.

Carbon neutrality is one of the main goals in current power system planning and operation. Many different actions and solutions are presented and implemented so far, incorporating renewable energy sources at all levels of the system. With the raising prices of natural gas and its negative impact on the environment, particularly emphasised over the past two years, new technologies and energy vectors are emerging as potential for its replacement. High importance of the hydrogen energy vector, especially in the decarbonisation of the industry sector, is being put forward due to its advantages of zero greenhouse gas emissions, its capacity for storing energy and capability to balance the production of renewable energy sources. This paper brings a detailed mathematical model of a price driven, demand responsive, multi-energy industry facility, as a logic first implementer of hydrogen technologies due to its high and multi-energy consumption nature. The systematic analyses are conducted over a set of scenarios of local production, considering different hydrogen technologies as well as range of natural gas and electricity prices. The findings of the paper conclude that hydrogen technology implementation into a realistic industrial consumers processes results in zero local emissions production, high level of autonomy and resistance from the market disturbances. When compared with classic industrial layouts, the overall CO 2 footprint is reduced from around 30% to around 85%, depending on the scenario. The sensitivity analysis has proven that hydrogen layouts are comparable to natural gas layouts in terms of total costs, showing that hydrogen options result in lower cost in the range from 25% to 58%, depending on the observed scenario. • Integration of renewables and hydrogen technologies in industrial plant. • Price sensitivity analysis showcasing economic benefits of different hydrogen technologies. • Carbon footprint reduction up to 80% from the business-as-usual approach. • Complete reduction in local GHG emissions using hydrogen technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]