Economic Analysis of Supply Chain for Offshore Wind Hydrogen Production for Offshore Hydrogen Refueling Stations

In order to solve the problem of large-scale offshore wind power consumption, the development of an offshore wind power hydrogen supply chain has become one of the trends. In this study, 10 feasible options are proposed to investigate the economics of an offshore wind hydrogen supply chain for offshore hydrogen refueling station consumption from three aspects: offshore wind hydrogen production, storage and transportation, and application. The study adopts a levelized cost analysis method to measure the current and future costs of the hydrogen supply chain. It analyses the suitable transport modes for delivering hydrogen to offshore hydrogen refueling stations at different scales and distances, as well as the profitability of offshore hydrogen refueling stations. The study draws the following key conclusions: (1) the current centralised wind power hydrogen production method is economically superior to the distributed method; (2) gas-hydrogen storage and transportation is still the most economical method at the current time, with a cost of CNY 32.14/kg, which decreases to CNY 13.52/kg in 2037, on a par with the cost of coal-based hydrogen production using carbon capture technology; and (3) at the boundaries of an operating load factor of 70% and a selling price of CNY 25/kg, the offshore hydrogen refueling station. The internal rate of return (IRR) is 21%, showing good profitability; (4) In terms of the choice of transport mode for supplying hydrogen to the offshore hydrogen refueling station, gas-hydrogen ships and pipeline transport will mainly be used in the near future, while liquid organic hydrogen carriers and synthetic ammonia ships can be considered in the medium to long term.