Co-located solar and hydrogen plants

European Energy Market Conference (EEM 2023), first author

Hydrogen systems
Is concentrated solar power with thermal storage feeding high-temperature electrolysis more economic than photovoltaics feeding low-temperature electrolysis in West Texas?

First author

  • 115-MW solar plant
  • West Texas site
  • Three design cases
  • REopt linked to SAM
  • MILP sizing and dispatch

Research question

Is concentrated solar power with thermal storage feeding high-temperature electrolysis more economic than photovoltaics feeding low-temperature electrolysis in West Texas?

Key insight

With cheap thermal storage, a variable-power electrolyzer gave the lowest hydrogen cost

Among the cases studied, concentrated solar power with thermal storage, running a high-temperature electrolyzer at variable power, gave the lowest levelized cost of hydrogen; holding the electrolyzer at constant power was the most expensive. The paper attributes the advantage of concentrated solar mainly to the low cost of thermal energy storage.

My contribution

First author. I did most of the work: I added a concentrated-solar module to the REopt-based model, ran the analysis and did the writing.

How I approached it

  1. ChallengeThe REopt-based model had no concentrated solar power or high-temperature electrolysis.

    What I didI simulated the solar field and tower with NREL's System Advisor Model and linked it to REopt through PySAM, adding an electrolyzer whose heat and electricity needs are met from the plant's output.

    Why it matteredOne optimization could then size the electrolyzer and thermal storage and plan their dispatch in each case.

Design choices

Run the photovoltaic case without a battery
Alternatives considered: photovoltaics with battery storageA battery would not be cost-effective when hydrogen can be stored downstream, and low-temperature electrolyzers tolerate fluctuating input better than high-temperature ones.

Method

Optimization of a 115-MW solar plant with electrolysis using SAM solar models, ERCOT prices and ATB cost trajectories.

Key findings

  1. Among the cases studied, concentrated solar power with thermal storage running the electrolyzer at variable power gave the lowest levelized hydrogen cost; constant-power operation was the most expensive.

Boundary conditions

Single West Texas site; cost trajectories from NREL's Annual Technology Baseline; conference-length study.

What it led to

The same plant-scale optimization next went offshore, linked to a simulation of wind-farm maintenance. Intelligent operation and maintenance in offshore wind–hydrogen systems

Publications

  1. EEM 2023
    Techno-economic analysis for co-located solar and hydrogen plants
    H. Li, J. Kiviluoma, J. Zhang
    2023 19th International Conference on the European Energy Market (EEM), pp. 1–6, 2023.
    DOI Accepted manuscript (PDF) Code Cited by 5

Citation counts: Google Scholar, October 30, 2026.