Supplying hydrogen for green steel through renewable energy sources: A case study of Turkiye

Steel is the most common industrial material worldwide due to its numerous applications, high strength and recyclability. Steel production involves alloying iron with various amounts of carbon and other elements to produce thousands of different grades and types of steel for various purposes. However, the intensive use of carbon in steel production is one of the factors contributing to global climate change. To use of hydrogen and renewable energy sources in steel production has emerged as a significant solution to reduce carbon emissions. The aim of this study is to obtain green hydrogen for the production of green steel. The focus is on utilizing offshore wind energy as a renewable energy source to give us the energy we need to electrolyze seawater. The study uses the seas of Turkiye for case analysis. In this paper, an integrated Multi-criteria decision-making method is used to integrate hybrid energy systems and their application for green industry and to select a location for a power generation plant. The study is a new contribution to the literature in terms of its scope. Green steel's location selection is addressed for the first time in the literature. The weights of the criteria are determined by employing the Best-Worst Method (BWM) as a multi-criteria decision-making technique, and the alternatives are evaluated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). By using the BWM method, decision makers can have a clear understanding of the evaluation range for pairwise comparisons of criteria, which reduces potential biases. According to the study, the northern part of the Aegean Sea in Turkiye is the most suitable alternative for green steel production, with offshore wind energy being used for hydrogen production. The study also revealed that the most important main criterion for this hybrid system is “natural factors”, and the sub-criteria are “wind speed and power density” by far compared to other sub-criteria. The fact that the area determined for the facility is suitable for construction and the possibility that the customer of the energy produced is other industrial establishments here is the most important indicator that the methods applied give good results.