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The importance of economies of scale, transport costs and demand patterns in optimising hydrogen fuelling infrastructure: An exploration with SHIPMod (Spatial hydrogen infrastructure planning model)

(c) UCL Creative Media

1 January 2013

Hydrogen is widely recognised as an important option for future road transportation, but a widespread infrastructure must be developed if the potential for hydrogen is to be achieved. This paper and related appendices which can be downloaded as Supplementary material present a mixed-integer linear programming model (called SHIPMod) that optimises a hydrogen supply chains for scenarios of hydrogen fuel demand in the UK, including the spatial arrangement of carbon capture and storage infrastructure. In addition to presenting a number of improvements on past practice in the literature, the paper focuses attention on the importance of assumptions regarding hydrogen demand. The paper draws on socio-economic data to develop a spatially detailed scenario of possible hydrogen demand. The paper then shows that assumptions about the level and spatial dispersion of hydrogen demand have a significant impact on costs and on the choice of hydrogen production technologies and distribution mechanisms. 

The importance of economies of scale, transport costs and demand patterns in optimising hydrogen fuelling infrastructure: An exploration with SHIPMod (Spatial hydrogen infrastructure planning model). International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 38 (26), 11189-11201.

Agnolucci, P., Akgul, O., McDowall, W., Papageorgiou, L.G. (2013).