Techno-Economic Analysis of Sustainable Hydrogen Production from Offshore Wind Farms: Two Italian Study Cases

Renewable energy production is one of the pillars of the decarbonization process for the electricity system. The use of hydrogen can also contribute to the decarbonisation of industrial sectors such as chemicals, steel production, heavy industry, and long-distance transports. In Italy, a significant growth in wind and photovoltaic production is already foreseen by 2030. After that date, a wide deployment of offshore wind is expected with a significant decrease in cost. In a medium-long term scenario, with the massive expansion of renewable energy systems and the growing demand for hydrogen across multiple sectors, it is conceivable that some large-scale offshore wind farms (OWFs) could be exclusively dedicated to on-site green hydrogen production, thereby mitigating the impact on the electrical grid and simultaneously increasing hydrogen availability. This study reports the methods, assumptions, and results of a technical–economic analysis carried out for green hydrogen production from dedicated OWFs in two Italian offshore sites, one in Sicily and one in the Adriatic Sea. Despite the high uncertainty associated with carrying out this type of assessment for emerging technologies, the levelized costs obtained for dedicated offshore wind energy (approximately 70–80 EUR/MWh) and green hydrogen (approximately 5–6 EUR/kg) are in line with corresponding sector studies. Moreover, the simplified methodological approach developed is useful to analyse and compare other marine areas and different system configurations.