In a policy paper published on Friday, the JRC study found the transport of 1 million tons per year of green hydrogen for industrial use, from a point of production to a single recipient 2,500km away, could be economically cheaper than generating the energy carrier in the destination market, provided the renewable electricity price at the point of origin of the hydrogen is at least €20/MWh cheaper than at the point of consumption.
However, a more complex scenario, involving the transport of just 100,000 tons per year and further dispersal to a network of hydrogen transport refueling stations within 500km, could prove more expensive than local green hydrogen production, even in markets with a high renewable electricity price, the paper stated.
Two electricity cost scenarios were considered, given the anticipated energy input required to convert the green hydrogen into an appropriate form for transport and then convert it back into its usable form at the consumer site, referred to in the paper as ‘packing’ and ‘unpacking’ the energy carrier.
In the industrial-use model, compressed hydrogen was found to be cheapest to export, whether shipped or piped, with liquid organic hydrogen carriers almost as attractive if the €20 waste heat is available.
The researchers stressed their modeling was based on newly-installed, dedicated, long-distance hydrogen pipelines, hinting the re-purposing of the existing natural gas network could offer much bigger savings.
With Germany having recently committed to exploring hydrogen imports from Australia, the JRC study said compressed hydrogen – especially when piped – offered the best business case up to 3,000km, making way for liquefied hydrogen and liquid organic hydrogen carriers over long distances, and LOHC and ammonia above 16,000km.
The potential importance of re-purposing natural gas pipes for hydrogen prompted the report’s authors to suggest more research into how this can be achieved and they also called for R&D investment into hydrogen packing and unpacking.
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