Automated Route Planning of Hydrogen Deliveries

Hydrogen (H2) is a promising solution to enable storage, logistics and intersectoral use of renewable energy in an industrial setting. To unlock this potential, one requirement is making the delivery of hydrogen convenient for companies which are located in areas where no hydrogen supply infrastructure is available. One way to address this issue is the use of a distribution system like the Mobile Modular H2 Port (MMH2P), a delivery system on a car trailer, which is able to carry hydrogen on road and to deliver it to gas tanks of local consumers. To support the operators of a MMH2P and to keep the possibility open to use an automated delivery vehicle, a computer-aided tool for planning the route of a tour has been implemented. It models the use case of a small commercial area, which hosts a hydrogen producer and its customers, on a vehicle routing problem (VRP) to minimize the travel time of the delivery vehicle. The vehicle routing problem is solved using an exact solution procedure.