GEOTHERMAL AND HYDROGEN: COULD HYDROGEN MAKE SOME GEOTHERMAL PROJECTS VIABLE?

Abstract

The production of hydrogen via geothermal has seen a growing interest worldwide in recent times, and for a good reason. There is much potential for geothermal to act as a source of energy in the production of hydrogen. Hydrogen from geothermal could displace a significant amount of emitted carbon, especially in countries struggling to reduce their carbon footprint or in countries abundant in geothermal resources that can produce hydrogen for export. The economics, the desire and the timing must be right, however. This paper presents a comparison of hydrogen generation from a dedicated geothermal plant with that produced from solar and solar plus battery storage. This is to test and illustrate the value of baseload generation that is achievable from geothermal in comparison with alternative renewables that are normally considered ‘lower cost’.