Comprehensive Investigation of Solar-based Hydrogen and Electricity Production in Iran

Hydrogen is a clean and environmentally friendly energy vector that can play an important role in meeting the world’s futureenergy needs. Therefore, a comprehensive study of the potential for hydrogen production from solar energy could greatlyfacilitate the transition to a hydrogen economy. Because by knowing the exact amount of potential for solar hydrogenproduction, the cost-effectiveness of its production can be compared with other methods of hydrogen production. Consideringthe above, it can be seen that so far no comprehensive study has been done on finding the exact potential of solar hydrogenproduction in different stations of Iran and finding the most suitable station. Therefore, in the present work, for the first time,using the HOMER and ArcGIS softwares, the technical-economic study of solar hydrogen production at home-scale was done.The results showed that Jask station with a levelized cost of energy equal to $ 0.172 and annual production of 83.8 kg ofhydrogen is the best station and Darab station with a levelized cost of energy equal to $ 0.286 and annual production of 50.4 kgof hydrogen is the worst station. According to the results, other suitable stations were Bushehr and Deyr, and other unsuitablestations were Anzali and Khalkhal. Also, in 102 under study stations, 380 MW of solar electricity equivalent to 70.2 tons ofhydrogen was produced annually. Based on the geographic information system map, it is clear that the southern half of Iran,especially the coasts of the Persian Gulf and the sea of Oman, is suitable for hydrogen production, and the northern,northeastern, northwestern, and one region in southern of Iran are unsuitable for hydrogen production. The authors of thisarticle hope that the results of the present work will help the energy policymakers to create strategic frameworks and a roadmapfor the production of solar hydrogen in Iran.