Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have located ideal spots along United States coastlines for offshore wind turbine technology, per CleanTechnica.
In a study published in the Journal of Physics: Conference Series, the researchers found areas with strong wind and shallow water are optimal for offshore wind-to-hydrogen systems. Locations along the Atlantic coastline and Gulf of Mexico best fit the criteria outlined in the study.
The findings also suggest that electricity generated by offshore wind turbines has the potential to be economically viable for splitting water and producing clean hydrogen. This comes as exciting news for the U.S. Department of Energy's Hydrogen Shot initiative, which has a goal that aims to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80%.
Through the use of an electrolyzer that splits water, scientists are able to divide hydrogen into its molecular components. When the electrolyzer is powered by renewable energy, such as offshore wind turbines, it produces what is known as clean hydrogen. The process also produces very low to zero carbon pollution, according to a report by McKinsey & Company.
As a result, transitioning toward clean hydrogen energy can help decrease the amount of planet-warming pollution entering the atmosphere. NPR reported that climate scientists have identified hydrogen energy as a crucial replacement for dirty energy, although some groups — such as the Sierra Club — have noted that there are some limitations to using hydrogen as a fuel source, including inefficiencies if it replaces direct uses of renewable sources and electrification of end uses.
Still, decarbonizing heavy industry with clean hydrogen could also help protect communities from climate-driven natural disasters, such as increasing heat waves and floods. Transitioning away from dirty energy also better protects our food supply from climate-related droughts and crop failures.
"Both offshore wind and clean hydrogen production are technologies that are rapidly evolving," NREL research engineer Kaitlin Brunik, the lead author of the new paper, said in the CleanTechnica post. "Continued investment and research on system- and plant-level design and optimization could spur further technology progress and cost reductions for these systems."
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