Evaluation of Green and Blue Hydrogen Production Potential in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has rich renewable energy resources, specifically wind and solar in addition to geothermal beside massive natural gas reserves. This paper investigates the potential of both green and blue hydrogen production for five selected cities in Saudi Arabia. To accomplish the said objective, a techno-economic model is formulated. Four renewable energy scenarios are evaluated for a total of 1.9 GW installed capacity to reveal the best scenario of Green Hydrogen Production (GHP) in each city. Also, Blue Hydrogen Production (BHP) is investigated for two cases of Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) with different percentages of carbon capture. The two BHP scenarios were compared with a base case scenario of hydrogen production from natural gas without CCS/U (gray hydrogen). The economic analysis for both GHP and BHP is performed by calculating the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen (LCOH) and cash flow. The LCOH for GHP range for all cities ($3.27/kg–$12.17/kg)) with the lowest LCOH is found for NEOM city (50% PV and 50% wind) ($3.27/kg). LCOH for the three SMR cases are $0.534/kg, $0.647/kg, and $0.897/kg for SMR wo CCS/U, SMR 55% CCS/U, and SMR 90% CCS/U respectively.

Keywords

• Green hydrogen
• Blue hydrogen
• Steam methane reforming (SMR)
• Carbon capture
• PEM electrolyzer
• Levelized cost of hydrogen