Electrical Grid Energy Storage Using Hydrogen: A Feasibility Study

In this project, we studied the possibility of implementing hydrogen as energy storage. With the focus being on decarbonizing the grid, we looked at studies that were powered by renewable sources. In addition to utilizing renewable sources, we decided to study electrolysis as a way to produce hydrogen. Electrolysis is the splitting of water to obtain hydrogen and oxygen, which is a carbon free technique. Pulling from two different papers, we were able to construct an equation that modeled the levelized cost of producing hydrogen. We also calculated the levelized cost of a fuel cell too, with hydrogen as fuel. After performing some analysis, we found that producing hydrogen by electrolysis would be very expensive, making it unsuitable for the market right now. We also found that the biggest bottleneck on the cost is the cost of electricity and the capital cost of the electrolyzer