Estimation of electrolytic hydrogen production potential in Venezuela from renewable energies

•Venezuela exhibits a great potential of RE in their different types.•H2 is produced by electrolysis of water with electricity generated from the selected RE.•H2 produced covers the electric energy requirements of unattended rural population.

An initial estimation of the potential for hydrogen (H2) production in Venezuela is made, obtained by water electrolysis using electricity from renewable sources, taking advantage of the great potential of the country for solar, wind and mini hydro energies. For the first two, its potential maps is obtained from insolation and wind speed maps, respectively, prepared from satellite data, and for mini-hydro, the potential is obtained from documentary information. To calculate the amount of H2 to produce is used the Higher Heating Value, considering the electrolytic system overall efficiency of 75%, including power requirements of the electrolyzer, auxiliary equipment, and system losses. In addition, in the calculation of usable renewable potential are excluded land areas under special administration, marine, lake and urban areas, and other limitations are considered concerning energy conversion efficiencies and useful areas available for the location of the different renewable technologies.The results give a total production of 2.073 × 1010 kg of H2/year, with a contribution of 95% of solar photovoltaic energy. The H2 produced covers entirely the energy requirements of rural population without energy service, and the remainder could be used as a chemical feedstock in industrial processes such as oil refining or petrochemical, whose demand in not entirely satisfied with the annual production of H2 from the country, or even for export. It is concluded that the results are the initial point of a detailed research, with more accurate estimation of the potentials that include economic and social topics related with the production on H2, on the way to determine the feasibility of developing of the Solar-H2 system, in its different forms in Venezuela.