Systematic planning to optimize investments in hydrogen infrastructure deployment

The introduction of hydrogen infrastructure and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) to gradually replace gasoline internal combustion engine vehicles can provide environment and energy security benefits. The deployment of hydrogen fueling infrastructure to support the demonstration and commercialization of FCVs remains a critical barrier to transitioning to hydrogen as a transportation fuel. This study utilizes an engineering methodology referred to as the Spatially and Temporally Resolved Energy and Environment Tool (STREET) to demonstrate how systematic planning can optimize early investments in hydrogen infrastructure in a way that supports and encourages growth in the deployment of FCVs while ensuring that the associated environment and energy security benefits are fully realized. Specifically, a case study is performed for the City of Irvine, California – a target area for FCV deployment – to determine the optimized number and location of hydrogen fueling stations required to provide a bridge to FCV commercialization, the preferred rollout strategy for those stations, and the environmental impact associated with three near-term scenarios for hydrogen production and distribution associated with local and regional sources of hydrogen available to the City. Furthermore, because the State of California has adopted legislation imposing environmental standards for hydrogen production, results of the environmental impact assessment for hydrogen production and distribution scenarios are measured against the California standards. The results show that significantly fewer hydrogen fueling stations are required to provide comparable service to the existing gasoline infrastructure, and that key community statistics are needed to inform the preferred rollout strategy for the stations. Well-to-wheel (WTW) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, urban criteria pollutants, energy use, and water use associated with hydrogen and FCVs can be significantly reduced in comparison to the average parc of gasoline vehicles regardless of whether hydrogen is produced and distributed with an emphasis on conventional resources (e.g., natural gas), or on local, renewable resources. An emphasis on local renewable resources to produce hydrogen further reduces emissions, energy use, and water use associated with hydrogen and FCVs compared to an emphasis on conventional resources. All three hydrogen production and distribution scenarios considered in the study meet California's standards for well-to-wheel GHG emissions, and well-to-tank emissions of urban ROG and NO_X. Two of the three scenarios also meet California's standard that 33% of hydrogen must be produced from renewable feedstocks. Overall, systematic planning optimizes both the economic and environmental impact associated with the deployment of hydrogen infrastructure and FCVs.     

A review on hydrogen production and utilization: Challenges and opportunities

Environment-friendly, safe and reliable energy supplies are indispensable to society for sustainable development and high life quality where even though social, environmental, political and economic challenges may play a vital role in their provision. Our continuously growing energy demand is driven by extensive growth in economic development and population and places an ever-increasing burden on fossil fuel utilization that represent a substantial percentage of this increasing energy demand but also creates challenges associated with increased greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and resource depletion. Such challenges make the global transition obligatory from conventional to renewable energy sources. Hydrogen is emerging as a new energy vector outside its typical role and receiving more recognition globally as a potential fuel pathway, as it offers advantages in use cases and unlike synthetic carbon-based fuels can be truly carbon neutral or even negative on a life cycle basis. This review paper provides critical analysis of the state-of-the-art in blue and green hydrogen production methods using conventional and renewable energy sources, utilization of hydrogen, storage, transportation, distribution and key challenges and opportunities in the commercial deployment of such systems. Some of the key promising renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen, such as solar and wind, are intermittent; hydrogen appears to be the best candidate to be employed for multiple purposes blending the roles of fuel energy carrier and energy storage modality. Furthermore, this study offers a comparative assessment of different non-renewable and renewable hydrogen production systems based on system design, cost, global warming potential (GWP), infrastructure and efficiency. Finally the key challenges and opportunities associated with hydrogen production, storage, transportation and distribution and commercial-scale deployment are addressed.     

Potential energy and greenhouse gas emission effects of hydrogen production from coke oven gas in U.S. steel mills

For this study, we examined the energy and emission effects of hydrogen production from coke oven gas (COG) on a well-to-wheels basis and compared these effects with those of other hydrogen production options, as well as with those of conventional gasoline and diesel options. We then estimated the magnitude of hydrogen production from COG in the United States and the number of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) that could potentially be fueled with the hydrogen produced from COG. Our analysis shows that this production pathway can achieve energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction benefits. This pathway is especially worth considering because first, the sources of COG are concentrated in the upper Midwest and in the Northeast United States, which would facilitate relatively cost-effective collection, transportation, and distribution of the produced hydrogen to refueling stations in these regions. Second, the amount of hydrogen that could be produced may fuel about 1.7 million cars, thus providing a vital near-term hydrogen production option for FCV applications.     

Cost assessment and evaluation of various hydrogen delivery scenarios

In this paper, performance and cost assessment studies, including the stages of hydrogen storage, transmission and distribution of three different hydrogen delivery pathways are undertaken comparatively. The produced hydrogen is stored under different temperatures and pressures and then transported to the nearby cities for distribution. In addition, three different methods for the transportation of the produced hydrogen to the distribution centers are studied, which are as transportation for hydrogen by the pressurized tanks, cryogenic liquid hydrogen tanker and the gas pipelines. Moreover, the transmission options from the distribution center to the target consumer are also examined for three different conditions. As a result, the hydrogen production capacity, the levelized cost of energy distribution (in $/kg), the infrastructure costs (truck, tanker number, gas line costs, etc.) for the selected transmission scenario are calculated. Furthermore, the environmental impact (greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) and some application parameters of the proposed system (e.g., number of hydrogen fuel stations and the distance between the stations, length of the distribution lines, etc.) are also determined. The highest levelized cost of delivery is obtained as 8.02 $/kg H₂ for the first scenario whereas the lowest cost is obtained as 2.73 $/kg H₂ for the third scenario.     

A spatially-explicit optimization model for long-term hydrogen pipeline planning

One of the major barriers to the deployment of hydrogen as a transportation fuel is the lack of an infrastructure for supplying the fuel to consumers. Consequently, models are needed to evaluate the cost and design of various infrastructure deployment strategies. The best strategy will likely differ between regions based on the spatial distribution of H₂ demand and variations in regional feedstock costs. Although several spatially-explicit infrastructure models have been developed, none of the published models are capable of optimizing interconnected regional pipeline networks for linking multiple production facilities and demand locations. This paper describes the Hydrogen Production and Transmission (HyPAT) model, which is a network optimization tool for identifying the lowest cost centralized production and pipeline transmission infrastructure within real geographic regions. A case study in the southwestern United States demonstrates the capabilities and outputs of the model.     

Synthesis and optimization of future hydrogen energy infrastructure planning in Peninsular Malaysia

The potential future use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in the transportation sector necessitates a shift in the current energy supply chain from supplying petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel, to supply hydrogen. This research was carried out to investigate hydrogen demand and determine the optimum hydrogen delivery network employing truck transportation. Peninsular Malaysia was taken as a case study. The hydrogen demand was determined using two method: Firstly, by assuming that the hydrogen demand in Peninsular Malaysia as a function of total vehicle numbers, average total distance traveled and vehicle fuel economy were measured. While the second method investigated based on the current supply of gasoline and diesel from surveys on local petrol stations in Peninsular Malaysia. As a result, the second method was found as more accurate method and adopted as the overall energy demand in Peninsular Malaysia. Objective function for total investment cost for the future hydrogen infrastructure was developed based on the production technologies, type of transport, type of storage, product phase and plant type. The model was solved based on MILP using GAMS. Finally from the result, it can be concluded that liquefied hydrogen produced by natural gas steam reforming and delivered via tanker trucks is the optimum hydrogen supply chain method due to the minimum cost.     

Assessment of hydrogen supply solutions for hydrogen fueling station: A Shanghai case study

Shanghai is one of the fastest growing regions of hydrogen energy in China. This paper researched feasible hydrogen sources in both internal and external Shanghai. This study comes up 9 hydrogen production methods and 6 transportation routes, ultimately forms 12 hydrogen supply solutions according to local conditions. The total cost in each solution is estimated including processes of hydrogen production, treatments, storage and transportation based on different transport distance. The results indicate that hydrogen supply cost is above 50 CNY/kgH₂ for external hydrogen sources after long-distance transportation to Shanghai, such as hydrogen production from coal in Inner Mongolia and from renewables in Hebei. The total cost of on-site hydrogen production from natural gas can be controlled under 40 CNY/kgH₂. When the price of wind power reduces to 0.5 CNY/kWh, hydrogen production from offshore wind power cooperating with hydrogen pipeline network has the greatest development potential for Shanghai hydrogen supply.     

Planning and operation of a hydrogen supply chain network based on the off-grid wind-hydrogen coupling system

Although hydrogen is identified to be the first choice of the energy industry in the future society, the severe shortage of hydrogen infrastructure hinders the development of the hydrogen economy. Therefore, by simultaneously integrating the planning and operation issues of a hydrogen supply chain network (HSCN) and taking the hydrogen demand of hydrogen fuel vehicles into account, this paper proposes a general optimization design model for a HSCN based on the off-grid wind-hydrogen coupling system to realize the scientific layout of hydrogen infrastructure and stimulate the transition of hydrogen energy. The uncertainties on both sides of the source and load of a HSCN are well-considered. Therein, the uncertainty of wind power is handled with chance constrained programming, while the uncertainty of hydrogen demand is addressed by a density-based clustering approach. The analysis focuses on a HSCN of Fujian Province, China and case study is conducted. Results show that the estimated hydrogen demand in Fujian Province over the course of a year is 0.197 million tons. The hydrogen production is located in Fuzhou, Quanzhou and Xiamen and the daily hydrogen production in Fuzhou is 309.11 ton/day, accounting for 57.48% of the total hydrogen production in Fujian Province. Since the revenue of the energy storage batteries cannot offset its high investment cost, the abnegation of the energy storage batteries in the HSCN is obtained. Compared with the deterministic HSCN, the total cost of the HSCN considering the uncertainties of wind power and hydrogen demand is reduced by 1.35%. The Levelized cost of hydrogen is 3.073–3.155$/kg and hydrogen production shows a significant scale effect. These results could provide information and direction to stakeholders, investors and policymakers for the planning of the future HSCN in Fujian Province to promote the tremendous development of the hydrogen industry.     

Supporting green Urban mobility – The case of a small-scale autonomous hydrogen refuelling station

Nowadays, the development of hydrogen economy in the transportation sector is hindered by the principal barriers arising from the lack of adequate infrastructure and the small fleet of hydrogen-based road vehicles.This study investigates the potential of small-scale autonomous hydrogen refuelling stations with onsite production via an alkaline electrolysis apparatus powered by a small wind turbine. In this context, an urban area with promising wind resources has been selected. Based on the wind conditions and an indicative hydrogen demand for refuelling light-duty fuel cell electric vehicles such as bicycles, the sizing of the wind turbine and the electrolyser has been theoretically calculated. For supporting the daily hydrogen refuelling demand of the fuel cell electric bicycles, which is estimated at approximately 6 kg, it is calculated that a 50 kW wind turbine should be installed in order to power a 70 kW alkaline electrolyser for producing hydrogen. The capital cost of the hydrogen station is calculated at €248,130, while the retail price of the produced hydrogen is estimated to be more than 50.2 €/kg_H2 in order to achieve a positive internal rate of return.Ultimately, the present paper aims at delivering a feasibility study of a small-scale H₂ refuelling station for fuel cell bicycles in order to provide investors with initiatives to implement such schemes in urban environments where problems of low air quality and high traffic are intense.     

Refuelling scenarios of a light urban fuel cell vehicle with metal hydride hydrogen storage. Comparison with compressed hydrogen storage counterpart

The high price of hydrogen fuel in the fuel cell vehicle refuelling market is highly dependent on the one hand from the production costs of hydrogen and on the other from the capital cost of a hydrogen refuelling station's components to support a safe and adequate refuelling process of contemporary fuel cell vehicles. The hydrogen storage technology dominated in the vehicle sector is currently based on high-pressure compressed hydrogen tanks to extend as much as possible the driving range of the vehicles. However, this technology mandates the use of large hydrogen compression and cooling systems as part of the refuelling infrastructure that consequently increase the final cost of the fuel. This study investigated the prospects of lowering the refuelling cost of small urban hydrogen vehicles through the utilisation of metal hydride hydrogen storage. The results showed that for low compression hydrogen storage, metal hydride storage is in favour in terms of the dispensed hydrogen fuel price, while its weight is highly comparable to the one of a compressed hydrogen tank. The final refuelling cost from the consumer's perspective however was found to be higher than the compressed gas due to the increased hydrogen quantity required to be stored in fully empty metal hydride tanks to meet the same demand.     

The role of hydrogen cars in the economy of California

Hydrogen has been proposed as an alternative transportation fuel that could reduce energy consumption and eliminate tailpipe emissions when used in fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). To investigate the potential effects of hydrogen vehicles on California’s economy over the next two decades, we employed the modified Costs for Advanced Vehicles and Energy (CAVE) model and a California-specific computable general equilibrium model. Results indicate that, even in the aggressive scenario, hydrogen cars can only account for a minor fraction of the on-road fleet through 2030. Although new sales could drop sharply, conventional gasoline cars and carryover pre-2010 vehicles are still expected to dominate the on-road vehicle stock and consume the majority of transportation energy through 2030. Transportation energy consumption could decline dramatically, mainly because of the fuel economy advantage of FCVs over conventional cars. Both moderate and aggressive hydrogen scenarios are estimated to have a slightly negative influence on California’s economy. However, the negative economic impacts could be lessened as the market for hydrogen and FCVs builds up. Based on the economic optimization model, both hydrogen scenarios would have a negative economic impact on California’s oil refining sector and, as expected, a positive impact on the other directly related sectors that contribute to either hydrogen production or FCV manufacturing.     

On-site hydrogen production from transportation fuels: An overview and techno-economic assessment

Hydrogen production for future transportation applications have received increased interest due to its inherent environmental and efficiency benefits. Currently, hydrogen is produced from natural gas and naphtha for its use in refineries for clean fuel production along with its use in ammonia production. The hydrogen demand will grow in future for hydrogen based fuel cell vehicles. Significant research is underway to produce hydrogen from renewable and fossil fuel sources. However, on-site hydrogen production using existing fuel and gas station infrastructure to support future hydrogen based fuel cell vehicles has advantages over other approaches. In this context, this study is focused on a techno-economic assessment of hydrogen production from transportation fuels using different conversion technologies. In addition, detailed economics with higher capacity and volume of the hydrogen stations are also discussed. Finally, a detailed roadmap is presented to produce on-site hydrogen at commercial scale.     

Fuel cell vehicles: State of the art with economic and environmental concerns

Hydrogen fueled fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) will play a major role as a part of the change toward the hydrogen based energy system. When combined with the right source of energy, fuel cells have the highest potential efficiencies and lowest potential emissions of any vehicular power source. As a result, extensive work into the development of hydrogen fueled FCVs is taking place. The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the research and development work which has occurred in the past five years on fuel cell vehicle technology, with a focus on economic and environmental concerns. It is observed that the current efforts are divided up into several parts. The performance, durability, and cost of fuel cell technology continue to be improved, and some fuel cells are currently ready to be mounted on vehicles and tested. Environmental and economic assessments of the entire hydrogen supply chain, including fuel cell end-use, are being carried out by groups of researchers around the world. It is currently believed that fuel cells need at least five more years of testing and improvement before large scale commercialization can begin. Economic and environmental analyses show that FCVs will likely be both economically competitive and environmentally benign. Indeed, the transition of the transportation sector to the use of hydrogen FCVs will represent one of the biggest steps toward the hydrogen economy.     

Potential importance of hydrogen as a future solution to environmental and transportation problems

Air pollution is a serious public health problem throughout the world, especially in industrialized and developing countries. In industrialized and developing countries, motor vehicle emissions are major contributors to urban air quality. Hydrogen is one of the clean fuel options for reducing motor vehicle emissions. Hydrogen is not an energy source. It is not a primary energy existing freely in nature. Hydrogen is a secondary form of energy that has to be manufactured like electricity. It is an energy carrier. Hydrogen has a strategic importance in the pursuit of a low-emission, environment-benign, cleaner and more sustainable energy system. Combustion product of hydrogen is clean, which consists of water and a little amount of nitrogen oxides. Hydrogen has very special properties as a transportation fuel, including a rapid burning speed, a high effective octane number, and no toxicity or ozone-forming potential. It has much wider limits of flammability in air than methane and gasoline. Hydrogen has become the dominant transport fuel, and is produced centrally from a mixture of clean coal and fossil fuels (with C-sequestration), nuclear power, and large-scale renewables. Large-scale hydrogen production is probable on the longer time scale. In the current and medium term the production options for hydrogen are first based on distributed hydrogen production from electrolysis of water and reforming of natural gas and coal. Each of centralized hydrogen production methods scenarios could produce 40 million tons per year of hydrogen. Hydrogen production using steam reforming of methane is the most economical method among the current commercial processes. In this method, natural gas feedstock costs generally contribute approximately 52–68% to the final hydrogen price for larger plants, and 40% for smaller plants, with remaining expenses composed of capital charges. The hydrogen production cost from natural gas via steam reforming of methane varies from about 1.25 US$/kg for large systems to about 3.50 US$/kg for small systems with a natural gas price of 6 US$/GJ. Hydrogen is cheap by using solar energy or by water electrolysis where electricity is cheap, etc.     

Societal lifetime cost of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

This paper employs societal lifetime cost for evaluating hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) from a societal welfare perspective as compared to conventional gasoline vehicles. We employ a learning-curve model for fuel-cell system cost estimates over time. The delivered hydrogen fuel cost is estimated using the UC Davis SSCHISM hydrogen supply pathway model, and most vehicle costs are estimated using the Advanced Vehicle Cost and Energy-Use Model (AVCEM). To estimate external costs, we use AVCEM and the Lifecycle Emissions Model (LEM). We examine hydrogen transition costs for a range of market penetration rates, externality evaluations, technology assumptions, and oil prices. Our results show that although the cost difference between FCVs and gasoline vehicles is initially very large, FCVs eventually become lifetime cost competitive with gasoline vehicles as their production volume increases, even without accounting for externalities. High valuation of externalities and high oil price could reduce the buy-down cost (the cumulative investment needed to bring hydrogen FCVs to lifetime cost parity with gasoline vehicles) by $10 billion relative to our reference case.     

Mobile phone infrastructure development: Lessons for the development of a hydrogen infrastructure

The development of new infrastructure is often a consideration in the introduction of new innovations. Currently there is some confusion around how to develop a hydrogen infrastructure to support the introduction of FCVs. Lessons can be learned from similar technology introduction in the past and therefore this paper investigates how mobile phone infrastructure was developed allowing the mass-market penetration of mobile phones. Based on this successful infrastructural development suggestions can be made on the development of a hydrogen infrastructure. It is suggested that a hydrogen infrastructure needs to be pre-developed 3–5 years before the market introduction of FCVs can successfully occur. A lack of infrastructural pre-development will cause to the market introduction of FCVs to fail.     

The cost analysis of hydrogen life cycle in China

Currently, the increasing price of oil and the possibility of global energy crisis demand for substitutive energy to replace fossil energy. Many kinds of renewable energy have been considered, such as hydrogen, solar energy, and wind energy. Many countries including China have their own plan to support the research of hydrogen, because of its premier features. But, at present, the cost of hydrogen energy production, storage and transportation process is higher than that of fossil energy and its commercialization progress is slow. Life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) was used in this paper to evaluate the cost of hydrogen energy throughout the life cycle focused on the stratagem selection, to demonstrate the costs of every step and to discuss their relationship. Finally, the minimum cost program is as follows: natural gas steam reforming – high-pressure hydrogen bottles transported by car to hydrogen filling stations – hydrogen internal-combustion engines.     

On optimal investment strategies for a hydrogen refueling station

The uncertainty and cost of changing from a fossil-fuel-based society to a hydrogen-based society are considered to be extensive obstacles to the introduction of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). The absence of existing profitable refueling stations has been shown to be one of the major barriers. This paper investigates methods for calculating an optimal transition from a gasoline refueling station to future methane and hydrogen combined use with an on site small-scale reformer for methane. In particular, we look into the problem of matching the hydrogen capacity of a single refueling station to an increasing demand. Based on an assumed future development scenario, optimal investment strategies are calculated. First, a constant utilization of the hydrogen reformer is assumed in order to find the minimum hydrogen production cost. Second, when considerations such as periodic maintenance are taken into account, optimal control is used to concurrently find both a short term equipment variable utilization for one week and a long term strategy. The result is a minimum hydrogen production cost of $4–6/kg, depending on the number of reinvestments during a 20 year period. The solution is shown to yield minimum hydrogen production cost for the individual refueling station, but the solution is sensitive to variations in the scenario parameters.     

The impact of widespread deployment of fuel cell vehicles on platinum demand and price

Current automotive fuel cells rely on platinum catalysts. At today’s platinum loading and price, a 50-kW fuel cell contains approximately 46 g of platinum costing $2200. Analysts expect that with further development of fuel cell technology, the platinum loading per car will decline perhaps by an order of magnitude, which will tend to reduce platinum costs per car. However, cost reductions from a decline in platinum loading might be partially offset by an increase in the price of platinum. Historically, platinum prices have been sensitive to changes in demand, and the widespread substitution of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) for internal-combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) might significantly drive up platinum demand and hence platinum prices. The possible impact of rising platinum prices has been raised as a potential barrier to the commercialization of FCVs.In this paper, we estimate the total cost of platinum in future FCVs considering the impact of worldwide introduction of hydrogen FCVs on platinum loading, platinum demand and price. The total platinum cost per FCV is the product of the platinum per FCV and the price of platinum. Using historical data and a scenario for platinum recycling, we estimate the price of platinum as a function of demand, which in turn is a function of the amount of platinum per FCV and the total number of FCVs. For a scenario where FCVs reach 40% of light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales globally by 2050, we find that the average platinum price increases by around 70%, but that the average platinum loading declines by about 90%, so that the overall the cost per FCV declines by almost 80%, from current values of about $2200 to about $500 in 2045 and beyond. In 2045, platinum cost accounts for about 12.6% of the fuel cell system cost and about 4% of the vehicle cost.     

Time development of new hydrogen transmission pipeline networks for France

The development of a hydrogen economy will need a transportation infrastructure to deliver hydrogen from production sites to end users. For the specific case of hydrogen, pipelines networks compete with other hydrogen carriers: compressed gas trucks and liquid cryogenic trucks. In this paper, we deal with the determination of the temporal deployment of a new hydrogen transportation infrastructure. Starting from the expected final horizon pipelines network, we propose a backward heuristic approach. The proposed approach is illustrated on a French regional hydrogen transportation network tacking into account two scenarios for hydrogen penetration into the fuel markets. We showed that for the mid term perspective and low market share, the trucks are the most economical options. However, for the long term, the pipeline option is considered as an economical viable option as soon as the hydrogen energy market share for the car fueling market reaches 10%.