Assessment of hydrogen delivery options
Feasibility of transport of green hydrogen within Europe
The RePowerEU plan [1] and the European Hydrogen Strategy [2] recognise the important role that the transport of hydrogen will play in enabling the penetration of renewable hydrogen in Europe. To implement the European Hydrogen Strategy it is important to understand whether the transport of hydrogen is cost effective, or whether hydrogen should be produced where it is used. If transporting hydrogen makes sense, a second open question is how long the transport route should be for the cost of the hydrogen to still be competitive with locally produced hydrogen. The study reveals that there is no single optimal hydrogen delivery solution across every transport scenario. The most cost effective way to deliver renewable hydrogen depends on distance, amount, final use, and whether there is infrastructure already available. For distances compatible with the European territory, compressed and liquefied hydrogen solutions, and especially compressed hydrogen pipelines, offer lower costs than chemical carriers do. The repurposing of existing natural gas pipelines for hydrogen use is expected to significantly lower the delivery cost, making the pipeline option even more competitive in the future. By contrast, chemical carriers become more competitive the longer the delivery distance (due to their lower transport costs) and open up import options from suppliers located, for example, in Chile or Australia.
ORTIZ CEBOLLA Rafael;
DOLCI Francesco;
WEIDNER RONNEFELD Eveline;
2022-10-21
Publications Office of the European Union
JRC130442
978-92-76-56421-8 (online),
1831-9424 (online),
EUR 31199 EN,
OP KJ-NA-31-199-EN-N (online),
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130442,
10.2760/869085 (online),
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