In the pursuit of achieving net-zero emissions to combat climate change, green hydrogen is expected to be an important decarbonization vector for hard-to-abate sectors. Scaling up green hydrogen production necessitates significant resources such as renewable energy and water, presenting an opportunity for a synergistic integration with offshore wind—a largely untapped energy source with abundant potential and declining costs. In this study, we employ a systematic assessment, utilizing an optimization framework and life cycle assessment, to evaluate the economic and environmental implications of green hydrogen production offshore. We examine the two delivery pathways of direct hydrogen transport – liquefied hydrogen and compressed gaseous hydrogen for 30 coastal states in the United States and further extend the analysis to the regional level, conceptualizing offshore hydrogen hubs. Our findings reveal that under optimistic scenarios of hydrogen uptake, 75% of the nation's serviceable consumption potential of hydrogen can be fulfilled through the deployment of 0.96 TW of offshore wind capacity. This leads to a significant increase in the utilization of offshore wind resources from 1% at present to over 22% of its technical resource potential. Our assessment predicts a delivered cost range of $2.50–$7.00 per kg H₂ and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions below the 4 kg CO₂e per kg H₂ benchmark at the coast for hydrogen produced offshore. These estimates are robust over a large range of demand scenarios. Furthermore, we delve into the factors that lead to the spatial differentiation in these metrics and discuss key policy support measures to bolster the growth potential of these nascent sectors.

中文翻译：

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迈向可持续发展：海上风电在美国沿海脱碳方面的绿色氢潜力


为了实现净零排放以应对气候变化，绿色氢预计将成为难以减排行业的重要脱碳载体。扩大绿色氢生产需要可再生能源和水等大量资源，这为与海上风电的协同整合提供了机会——海上风电是一种尚未开发的能源，潜力巨大且成本不断下降。在这项研究中，我们采用系统评估，利用优化框架和生命周期评估，来评估海上绿色氢生产的经济和环境影响。我们研究了美国 30 个沿海州的直接氢运输的两种输送途径——液化氢和压缩气态氢，并将分析进一步扩展到区域层面，概念化了海上氢中心。我们的研究结果表明，在氢吸收乐观的情况下，通过部署 0.96 TW 的海上风电容量可以实现全国 75% 的可用氢消费潜力。这使得海上风电资源的利用率从目前的1%大幅增加到其技术资源潜力的22%以上。我们的评估预测每公斤 H ₂ 的交付成本范围为 2.50–7.00 美元，生命周期温室气体排放量低于每公斤 H ₂ 4 公斤二氧化碳 ₂ e海上生产氢气的海岸基准。这些估计在大范围的需求场景中都是稳健的。此外，我们深入研究了导致这些指标空间差异的因素，并讨论了增强这些新兴行业增长潜力的关键政策支持措施。