Performance investigation of cross-regional utilization and production of renewable hydrogen

Since the fluctuation and uneven distribution of solar energy seriously restrict its integration in the power mix, it is of great significance to promote cross -regional solar energy consumption. Herein, an innovative route of largescale solar energy utilization is proposed, including full-spectrum solar hydrogen production and hybrid pipeline transport. Based on the spectral beam splitter, full-spectrum solar energy is efficiently converted into hydrogen through methanol steam reforming and water electrolysis. Then, the produced hydrogen is transported to the energy intensive areas by an existing natural gas pipeline to minimize the capital investment. A joint model of proposed system is established using AspenPlus/Matlab, and the thermodynamic and economic performances are investigated comprehensively. Results show that the proposed system demonstrates the highest energy and exergy efficiencies, reaching 32.35 % and 28.54 % respectively. Among all the cases, the dynamic payback period is the shortest at 6.92 years, as well as the net present value is highest at 3087.63 million US$ in the proposed system, followed by the case of trucking + shipping, and trucking + natural gas pipeline. Summarily, the proposed system allows better utilization of available solar energy without significant infrastructure investments, which highlights the strong potential of cross -regional utilization and production of renewable hydrogen.