Open Access

Marvin Benedict Brands, Peter Stenzel

• The decarbonization and the substitution of fossil fuels with hydrogen have emerged as critical objectives in the ongoing energy transition. However, the lack of understanding and awareness surrounding industrial-scale hydrogen projects and their potential hinder progress in addressing these challenges. To expedite the transition process, it is imperative to cultivate a sense of awareness and sensitivity among industrial-scale hydrogen projects, dimensions of generation plants, and potential use cases for hydrogen and its co-products from electrolysis. This research endeavors to answer the fundamental question: "How can a general sense of awareness and sensitivity for hydrogen projects be established in a manner that is easily comprehensible?" To accomplish this goal, a systematic approach is proposed. The research leverages renewable generation profiles in hourly resolution data from photovoltaic plants and onshore/offshore wind turbines, to ascertain the available electricity that can be utilized for electrolysis. By employing scientifically grounded assumptions about the parameters of electrolysis plants, the design and resource requirements will be determined and visually represented. Additionally, predefined use cases for the produced hydrogen and its by-products will be considered, and diverse supply capacities will be visualized across sectors such as mobility, industry, and housing, considering in non-cumulative manner. In addition, the potential of hydrogen as a long-term storage media for renewable electricity can be assessed. The outcome of this research manifests as an accessible web tool called the "Electrolysis Calculator". This user-friendly tool necessitates four user-input values and performs calculations for primary electrolysis design parameters, encompassing full-load hours, resource consumption, generated energy, and substance quantities. Furthermore, the web tool provides intuitive visualizations of typical use case capacities, aimed at fostering awareness and understanding of hydrogen projects among its users. The web tool enables decision-making and promoting widespread adoption of hydrogen as an alternative energy carrier and long term storage media.