Optimal PV Configurations for Green Hydrogen Production and Sectoral integration in Agriculture, Transport, and Electricity in the Moroccan Context

The increasing global demand for clean energy necessitates the development of sustainable hydrogen production methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. As a leading hub for the hydrogen economy in Africa, Morocco presents a strategic case for assessing green hydrogen production using various technological approaches. This study evaluates Morocco’s potential for green hydrogen generation powered by solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The assessment considers six PV technologies, three sun-tracking configurations (fixed, single-axis, dual-axis), and two types of electrolysers Alkaline and Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) across 21 Moroccan cities representing diverse climatic regions. PV electricity generation from several arcHITectures were simulated and used to power both electrolyser types, with the resulting hydrogen evaluated for use in three key sectors: agriculture (via ammonia production for fertilizers), transport (hydrogen-powered fuel cell buses), and electricity (as an energy storage solution for peak demand periods). Key results identify Ouarzazate as the most promising location, producing 55,782.1 MWh of annual electricity and achieving a capacity factor of 31.84% for an installed capacity of 20 MW This configuration, when using HIT-Si PV panels with dual-axis tracking, enabled hydrogen production of up to 1,139.47 tonnes using PEM electrolysers. Tangier showed the highest performance improvement in hydrogen output (41.18%) when adopting dual-axis tracking compared to the baseline system. A sensitivity analysis on the Levelized Cost of Hydrogen revealed the lowest value 1.2655 $/kg H2 was also achieved in Ouarzazate using HIT-Si panels with single-axis tracking. Economically, the highest NPV (43.783 M$) was achieved in the second economic integration scenario (powering fuel cell buses) in Ouarzazate with HIT-Si and dual-axis tracking. For ammonia production, the highest NPV (11.38 M$) was obtained with an alkaline electrolyser and single-axis tracking. Electricity storage was found to be not economically feasible in any case, with the best configuration still resulting in a net present cost of 14.16 M$. This research offers valuable insights for policymakers and researchers in Morocco and other African nations with similar renewable energy potential, highlighting the economic and technical viability of PV-powered hydrogen systems and their potential sectorial integration in various economic sectors such as power, transport and agriculture.