Abstract The increasing ambition of climate targets creates a major role for hydrogen especially in achieving carbon-neutrality in sectors presently difficult to decarbonise. This work examines to what extent the currently carbon-intensive hydrogen production in Europe could be replaced by water electrolysis using electricity from renewable energy resources (RES) such as solar photovoltaic, onshore/offshore wind and hydropower (green hydrogen). The study assesses the technical potential of RES at regional and national levels considering environmental constraints, land use limitations and various techno-economic parameters. It estimates localised clean hydrogen production and examines the capacity to replace carbon-intensive hydrogen hubs with ones that use RES-based water electrolysis. Findings reveal that -at national level- the available RES electricity potential exceeds the total electricity demand and the part for hydrogen production from electrolysis in all analysed countries. At regional level, from the 109 regions associated with hydrogen production (EU27 and UK), 88 regions (81%) show an excess of potential RES generation after covering the annual electricity demand across all sectors and hydrogen production. Notably, 84 regions have over 50% excess RES electricity potential after covering the total electricity demand and that for water electrolysis. The study provides evidence on the option to decarbonize hydrogen production at regional level. It shows that such transformation is possible and compatible with the ongoing transition towards carbon–neutral power systems in the EU. Overall, this work aims to serve as a tool for designing hydrogen strategies in harmony with renewable energy policies.

中文翻译：

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欧洲的绿色氢——区域评估：用可再生能源供电的电解替代现有生产

摘要 气候目标的日益雄心壮志为氢发挥了重要作用，尤其是在目前难以脱碳的部门实现碳中和方面。这项工作研究了欧洲目前的碳密集型氢气生产在多大程度上可以被使用来自太阳能光伏、陆上/海上风能和水力发电（绿色氢）等可再生能源 (RES) 的电力电解水所取代。该研究考虑了环境限制、土地利用限制和各种技术经济参数，评估了区域和国家层面的可再生能源技术潜力。它估计了本地清洁氢的生产，并检查了用基于可再生能源的水电解的氢中心取代碳密集型氢中心的能力。调查结果显示，在国家层面，所有被分析国家的可用 RES 电力潜力超过了总电力需求和电解制氢的部分。在区域层面，在与氢气生产相关的 109 个地区（欧盟 27 国和英国）中，88 个地区（81%）在涵盖所有部门的年度电力需求和氢气生产后显示出潜在的可再生能源发电过剩。值得注意的是，在覆盖总电力需求和水电解需求后，84个地区的可再生能源电力潜力超过50%。该研究提供了关于在区域一级对制氢进行脱碳的选择的证据。它表明这种转变是可能的，并且与欧盟正在进行的向碳中和电力系统的过渡相兼容。全面的，