Site suitability assessment for green hydrogen production in the Valencian Community (Spain)

Abstract: The Next Generation funds have promoted energy transition projects and specially in Spain many green hydrogen projects are being presented throughout the territory. When developing renewable hydrogen-related projects multiple parameters and inputs must be considered since the characteristics of the sites' surroundings will have a great impact in the profitability of the project.  The main objective of this master thesis is to develop a methodology which helps with the process of selecting a suitable site to deploy a green hydrogen production facility. The study is limited to the green hydrogen production through electrolysis in the Valencian Community. It starts with georeferenced data gathering of the identified parameters that may have an impact in the viability of the project such the sun, wind and water resources avaliable as well as the transportation infrastructures and main hydrogen potential consumtions. Special attention is given to the water allocation since hydrogen could be exported and with it, the water resources from the Valencian Community. Afterwards this data is processed in a geographic information system software by performing a multi-criteria weighted overlay analysis. The weight of each criteria is given following the Analytic Hierarchy Process.  Once these steps have been completed, a suitability map of the Valencian Community is obtained in which one can see the most suitable locations to deploy green hydrogen production projects based on the selected criteria. In this thesis, the sites with the highest suitability score are selected in each of the three provinces of the Valencian Community and several parameters such as the green hydrogen production potential in tons/year or the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) have been calculated.  The results showed many similarities among the three locations in terms of green hydrogen production and LCOH due to its relativley close geographical situation. However, interesting findings such as the crucial need of having nearby a source of avaliable water and the key role of desalination plants have been depicted.