Estimating global hydrogen production from wind Damon Honnery*, Patrick Moriarty Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University, Building 31, 3800, Australia article info Article history: Received 12 September 2008 Received in revised form 5 November 2008 Accepted 5 November 2008 Available online 11 December 2008 Keywords: Electricity Electrolysis Transmission Wind turbine abstract It is likely that intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar will provide the greatest opportunity for future large-scale hydrogen production. Here, on-shore wind is examined. Global wind energy is estimated by placing one 2 MW turbine/km 2 over the surface of the earth. Wind energy production is based on monthly mean wind speed data. Wind turbines are grouped to form arrays that are linked to local hydrogen generation and transmission networks. Hydrogen generation is done via low-pressure electrolysis and transmission via high-pressure gas pipelines. The wind/hydrogen system is considered within a global energy system that must not only provide hydrogen, but also energy for electricity consumption at the local generation site. The technical potential of the hydrogen produced is estimated to be 116 EJ. Uneven distribution of the hydrogen-rich sites results in the need to export much of the hydrogen produced to energy-poor regions. To overcome system losses, a combined wind/HVDC/hydrogen system is considered. ª 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In previous papers [1,2] the authors argued that intermittent renewable energy offered the most likely source for the energy needed to produce hydrogen on a large scale. Base-load renewables such as hydro, biomass and geothermal were shown unable to provide sufficient energy to supply even existing demand for electricity. Both wind and solar on the other hand, while intermittent and unevenly distributed, are abundant and so more likely to be able to provide the scale of energy generation necessary for hydrogen production on a global scale. Estimates of the global technical potential of solar energy range from 15 to 4300 EJ, and for on-shore wind 3–600 EJ [3,4]. Differences arise from assumptions made when estimating the electrical energy able to be generated from solar and wind resources. Factors such as the type of energy conversion equipment (PV cells and wind turbines), the number used and where they are placed are variable and open to speculation. The definition of the term technical potential often used to describe the estimate is also problematic. The Intergovern- mental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2001 [5], for example, estimated the annual global theoretical terrestrial potential of wind as 1728 EJ from all land with mean annual wind speeds >5.1 m/s at 10 m above the ground. This amount was then reduced to give a technical potential of only 72 EJ based on the experience of the Netherlands and the USA. By placing four 1 MW wind turbines/km 2 on land considered suitable, Hoogwijk et al. [6] estimated the technical potential of wind to be 346 EJ. Archer and Jacobson [7] placed a single 2 MW turbine/km 2 on land with mean wind speeds over 6.9 m/ s and above at a height of 80 m and estimated the technical potential to be 230 EJ. More recently de Vries et al. [3] tightened the land suitability constraints of Hoogwijk et al. and esti- mated 155 EJ. For solar energy similar problems arise, although the largest sensitivity lies in the land area utilized. As a resource, wind energy offers a number of advantages over solar energy. Peak energy intensity for wind turbines is * Corresponding author. E-mail address: damon.honnery@eng.monash.edu.au (D. Honnery). Available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he 0360-3199/$ – see front matter ª 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2008.11.001 international journal of hydrogen energy 34 (2009) 727–736