Techno-Economic Analysis of Hybrid Offshore Wind and Hydrogen Systems in Northeastern U.S.

The northeastern coast of the United States features significant potential of offshore wind farms, and in order to meet the current government targets for thirty gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, more research is needed into techno-economic feasibility. A primary focus of this study is to compare the economic viability of different configurations of offshore wind farms with energy storage. Power-to-X technologies, specifically offshore wind to hydrogen, are evaluated to assess the feasibility of the hybrid energy system. The System Advisor Model (SAM) and Renewable Energy Integration & Optimization (REopt) tools developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been adopted to perform the techno-economic analysis. The investigation of the hybrid offshore wind and hydrogen system is desired for the future of offshore wind, as current costs are dependent on government incentives that are short term. To this end, both small scale (10 MW) and large scale (100 MW) wind farms have been analyzed standalone, and with electrolysis hydrogen generation.