Production of green hydrogen in Brazil for exportation from desalinated seawater using energy generated by heliothermal, photovoltaic, and wind plants.

The article focuses on the technical and economic feasibility analysis of eight renewable energy-based systems for producing green hydrogen for export in Brazil, using seawater desalination to preserve scarce freshwater resources. These systems integrate solar thermal power plants with thermal energy storage (Concentrated Solar Power, CSP, with Thermal Energy Storage, TES), photovoltaic (PV), and wind energy (WE) plants combined with Multi Effect Distillation (MED) or Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination technologies to supply water for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. Results indicate that systems combining CSP with TES and complementary PV and WE plants (notably system 5: heliothermal + PV + WE + MED, and system 8: PV + WE + RO) achieve continuous hydrogen production with competitive levelized costs of hydrogen (LCOH) and lower total investment costs, while desalination plant costs represent less than 1% of total system costs. The study highlights the potential of these hybrid renewable configurations to support Brazil's green hydrogen export ambitions while addressing freshwater scarcity exacerbated by climate change.