Towards the development of offshore wind farms in the Mediterranean Sea: A techno-economic analysis including green hydrogen production during curtailments

Bringing floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs) to a real industrial maturity and reducing the levelized cost of floating wind energy are key to significantly increasing the penetration of renewables in the energy mix of Mediterranean countries, especially if in combination with suitable energy storage systems, such as those involving green hydrogen production. The present study analyses techno-economic aspects of some of the technologies related to FOWTs and hydrogen production by means of offshore-generated energy, aiming to evaluate the potential of a floating wind farm integrated with a power-to-gas energy storage system in a specific installation site near the Sardinian shores. In comparison to the pioneering studies to date, a more detailed computational model is used, able to account for several critical factors like a better description of metocean conditions, constraints on grid capacity, and a state-of-the-art model to define the farm layout. Concerning hydrogen production, a comparison between the statistical approach, which is commonly used in the field, and a fully time-dependent method is performed. Proposed results obtained with the statistic and the time-dependent approach show values ranging between 3.79 and 5.47€/kg, respectively. These outcomes are thought to provide an interesting comparison between different fidelity approaches and realistic reference values for the levelized cost of hydrogen by floating wind in the Mediterranean Sea.