Green hydrogen valleys: a preliminary case study for the industrial area of Ravenna

In November 2020 Italian government released two drafts concerning a research and innovation roadmap and a national strategy about green hydrogen. A general target of 2% for the green hydrogen penetration in the Italian energy market is foreseen by 2030, corresponding to 0.7 million tons of green hydrogen production per year. Since no green hydrogen plants exist at industrial scale in Italy, a challenging strategy is necessary to achieve the expected target. To date, investors are discouraged from entering the market due to the existing barriers. However, applying and replicating the so-called “hydrogen valleys” concept represents a possible way to approach the short-medium term green hydrogen strategy. Since they are “regional ecosystems […] developed relying on local production of hydrogen based on decentralized renewable energy production and local demand, transported over short distances”, new hydrogen valley projects would be characterized by lower and decentralized production as well as reduced transportation costs, thus potentially representing a more attractive investment. However, the techno-economic attractiveness of the project has to be assessed to justify the investment. Therefore, the paper describes a preliminary case study for a green hydrogen valley located in the industrial area of Ravenna. After a short introduction of the hydrogen valley concept, the paper shows the obtained results for a scenario-based techno-economic analysis concerning the realization of a hydrogen valley in the industrial area of Ravenna.