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. JRC has performed a comprehensive study regarding the transport of hydrogen. To investigate which renewable hydrogen delivery pathways are favourable in terms of energy demand and costs, JRC has developed a database and an analytical tool to assess each step of the pathways, and used it to assess two case studies. 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.