Hydrogen production via electrolysis in 2030: comparing four connection schemes through energy system optimization

Electrolysis is a low-carbon hydrogen production mean that could be a key technology to help decarbonize several industrial sectors. The main factor holding back the development of electrolysis in industrial clusters is the available space to build dedicated renewables to power them. This study focuses on the trades-off between hydrogen and electricity infrastructure. We used a multi-resource capacity expansion model to compare four scenarios with different connection schemes. The results show that grid sourcing is the most expensive configuration with a levelized cost of hydrogen approaching 5€/kg. In a configuration with delocalized renewable electricity production, we found that below 150 km transporting hydrogen by pipeline is cheaper than transporting the electrical equivalent energy and producing the hydrogen at the demand site. However, this threshold distance is highly sensitive to the flexibility of the electrical and hydrogen networks. With long term hydrogen storage connected to a hydrogen network, pipeline transportation is cost effective up to a distance of 300km.