Policy & Socio-Economics

Developing countries including Ghana face challenges ensuring access to clean and reliable cooking fuels and technologies. Traditional biomass sources mainly used in most developing countries for cooking contribute to deforestation and indoor air pollution necessitating a shift towards environmentally friendly alternatives. The study’s primary objective is to evaluate the economic viability of using solar PV-based green hydrogen as a sustainable fuel for cooking in Ghana. The study adopted well-established equations to investigate the economic performance of the proposed system. The findings revealed that the levelized cost of hydrogen using the discounted cash flow approach is about 89% 155% and 190% more than electricity liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and charcoal. This implies that using the hydrogen produced for cooking fuel is not cost-competitive compared to LPG charcoal and electricity. However with sufficient capital subsidies to lower the upfront costs the analysis suggests solar PV-based hydrogen could become an attractive alternative cooking fuel. In addition switching from firewood to solar PVbased hydrogen for cooking yields the highest carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions savings across the cities analysed. Likewise replacing charcoal with hydrogen also offers substantial CO2 emissions savings though lower than switching from firewood. Correspondingly switching from LPG to hydrogen produces lower CO2 emissions savings than firewood and charcoal. The study findings could contribute to the growing body of knowledge on sustainable energy solutions offering practical insights for policymakers researchers and industry stakeholders seeking to promote clean cooking adoption in developing economies.

Scaling up clean hydrogen supply in the near future is critical to achieving China’s hydrogen development target. This study established an electrolytic hydrogen development mechanism considering the generation mix and operation optimization of power systems with access to hydrogen. Based on the incremental cost principle we quantified the provincial and national clean hydrogen production cost performance levels in 2030. The results indicated that this mechanism could effectively reduce the production cost of clean hydrogen in most provinces with a national average value of less than 2 USD·kg−1 at the 40-megaton hydrogen supply scale. Provincial cooperation via power transmission lines could further reduce the production cost to 1.72 USD·kg−1. However performance is affected by the potential distribution of hydrogen demand. From the supply side competitiveness of the mechanism is limited to clean hydrogen production while from the demand side it could help electrolytic hydrogen fulfil a more significant role. This study could provide a solution for the ambitious development of renewables and the hydrogen economy in China.

The influence of mobility modes within Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) has gained limited attention despite their crucial role in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings in the European Union (EU) account for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. In comparison transport contributes 28% of energy use and 25% of emissions with road transport responsible for 72% of these emissions. This study aims to design and optimize a synthetic PED in Istanbul that integrates renewable energy sources and public mobility systems to address these challenges. The renewable energy sources integrated into the synthetic PED model include solar energy hydrogen energy and regenerative braking energy from a tram system. Solar panels provided a substantial portion of the energy while hydrogen energy contributed to additional electricity generation. Regenerative braking energy from the tram system was also utilized to further optimize energy production within the district. This system powers a middle school 10 houses a supermarket and the tram itself. Optimization techniques including Linear Programming (LP) for economic purposes and the Weighted Sum Method (WSM) for environmental goals were applied to balance cost and CO2 emissions. The LP method identified that the PED model can achieve cost competitiveness with conventional energy grids when hydrogen costs are below $93.16/MWh. Meanwhile the WSM approach demonstrated that achieving a minimal CO2 emission level of 5.74 tons requires hydrogen costs to be $32.55/MWh or lower. Compared to a conventional grid producing 97 tons of CO2 annually the PED model achieved reductions of up to 91.26 tons. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on sustainable urban energy systems by addressing key research gaps related to the integration of mobility modes within PEDs and offering insights into the optimization of renewable energy sources for reducing emissions and energy consumption.

The import of hydrogen and derivatives forms part of many national strategies and is fundamental to achieving climate protection targets. This paper provides an overview and technical comparison of import pathways for hydrogen and derivatives in terms of efficiency technological maturity and development and construction times with a focus on the period up to 2030. The import of hydrogen via pipeline has the highest system efficiency at 57–67 % and the highest technological maturity with a technology readiness level (TRL) of 8–9. The import of ammonia and methanol via ship and of SNG via pipeline shows efficiencies in the range of 39–64 % and a technological maturity of TRL 7 to 9 when using point sources. Liquid hydrogen LOHC and Fischer-Tropsch products have the lowest efficiency and TRL in comparison. The use of direct air capture (DAC) reduces efficiency and TRL considerably. Reconversion of the derivatives to hydrogen is also associated with high losses and is not achievable for all technologies on an industrial scale up to 2030. In the short to medium term import routes for derivatives that can utilise existing infrastructures and mature technologies are the most promising for imports. In the long term the most promising option is hydrogen via pipelines.

In the realm of renewable energy the integration of wind power and hydrogen energy systems represents a promising avenue towards environmental sustainability. However the development of cost-effective hydrogen energy storage solutions is crucial to fully realize the potential of hydrogen as a renewable energy source. By combining wind power generation with hydrogen storage a comprehensive hydrogen energy system can be established. This study aims to devise a physiologically inspired optimization approach for designing a standalone wind power producer that incorporates a hydrogen energy system on a global scale. The optimization process considers both total cost and capacity loss to determine the optimal configuration for the system. The optimal setup for an off-grid solution involves the utilization of eight distinct types of compact horizontal-axis wind turbines. Additionally a sensitivity analysis is conducted by varying component capital costs to assess their impact on overall cost and load loss. Simulation results indicate that at a 15% loss the cost of energy (COE) is $1.3772 while at 0% loss it stands at $1.6908. Capital expenses associated with wind turbines and hydrogen storage systems significantly contribute to the overall cost. Consequently the wind turbine-hydrogen storage system emerges as the most cost-effective and reliable option due to its low cost of energy.