Mapping cost-effective hydrogen production based on renewable resource potential and techno-economic analysis: a case study

Fatemeh Rouzbahani, Mohammad Amin Vaziri Rad and Danyal Aghajani

Applied Energy, 2026, vol. 404, issue C, No S0306261925018902

Abstract: Finding the optimal location for constructing a renewable-powered electrolyzer plant is fundamental to achieving cost-effective green hydrogen production. However, studies that utilize Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for this purpose commonly rely on resource availability and proximity to national infrastructure as the main techno-economic criteria. These factors, however, may not fully capture the direct impact of renewable resources on techno-economic performance. To address this gap, this study proposes a four-stage mapping approach. In the first stage, a renewable potential map determines the frequency and combination of resources across different geographical coordinates. In the second stage, techno-economic optimization is performed for each level of renewable resource availability. In the third stage, the results are used to generate new map layers in ArcGIS, including the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH), plant net present cost (NPC), and electrolyzer capacity factor (CF). Finally, all economic, technical, environmental, and accessibility layers are integrated to identify the optimal location for renewable-powered hydrogen production facilities. The Analytic Network Process (ANP) weighting revealed that NPC, CF, LCOH, distance from power grid, and proximity to potential end users were the most critical criteria, each with 10–12 % importance in the final mapping. The results showed that 10.3 % of Tehran province is classified as completely appropriate and approximately 23 % as appropriate for green hydrogen production. The estimated LCOH ranges from 3.6 to 5.1 $/kg, with an electrolyzer capacity factor of 33–35 % in solar-based areas and 45–61 % in areas utilizing a combination of solar and wind power.

Keywords: Geographical information system; Economic optimization; Hybrid renewable system; Cost of hydrogen; Electrolyzer plant (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261925018902
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:404:y:2026:i:c:s0306261925018902

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2025.127160

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().