Evaluation of Hydrogen Transportation Networks: A Case Study on the German Energy System

Flora v. Mikulicz-Radecki*, Johannes Giehl*, Benjamin Grosse*, Sarah Schöngart, Daniel Rüdt, Maximilian Evers, Joachim Müller-Kirchenbauer

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

Not only due to the energy crisis European policymakers are exploring options to substitute natural gas with renewable hydrogen. A condition for the application of hydrogen is a functioning transportation infrastructure. However, the most efficient transport of large hydrogen quantities is still unclear, and deeper analyses are missing. A promising option is converting the existing gas infrastructure. This study presents a novel approach to develop hydrogen networks by applying the Steiner tree algorithm to derive candidates and evaluate their costs. This method uses the existing grid (brownfield) and is compared to a newly built grid (Greenfield). The goal is the technical and economic evaluation and comparison of hydrogen network candidates.

The methodology is applied to the German gas grid and demand and supply scenarios covering the industry, heavy-duty transport, power, and heating sector, imports, and domestic production. Five brownfield candidates are compared to a greenfield candidate. The candidates differ by network length and pipeline diameters to consider the transported volume of hydrogen. The economic evaluation concludes that most brownfield candidates' cost is significantly lower than those of the greenfield candidate. The candidates can serve as starting points for flow simulations, and policymakers can estimate the cost based on the results.
Original languageEnglish
Article number127891
JournalEnergy
Volume278
Issue numberPart B
Number of pages10
ISSN0360-5442
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2023
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Published online: 29 May 2023.

Keywords

  • Hydrogen transportation network
  • Steiner tree algorithm
  • Minimal spanning tree
  • Infrastructure conversion
  • Conversion cost evaluation

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