Location matters: Exploring the effects of regional geographical and political characteristics on hydrogen pipeline costs globally

2025-05-02

AI Summary

Conventional hydrogen pipeline cost estimation methods neglect regional geographic and political-economic heterogeneity, leading to substantial underestimation. Method: We develop the first global hydrogen pipeline cost model integrating multidimensional geospatial factors—including terrain, land use, and existing infrastructure—with country-level political-economic parameters (e.g., weighted average cost of capital, WACC), moving beyond simplistic uniform detour factor assumptions. Leveraging GIS-based spatial modeling and optimizing 4,900 potential cross-border pipeline routes, we quantify regional cost variability. Contribution/Results: Our analysis reveals up to threefold cost differences across regions. Validation within the European energy system demonstrates that traditional approaches misrepresent trade flows by over 30% and underestimate costs by up to 200%. The resulting global pipeline cost and optimal routing dataset significantly enhances the realism and policy relevance of cross-border hydrogen trade simulations.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Search and Optimization: Learning to Search
• Reasoning under Uncertainty: Stochastic Optimization

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Cost models of using LLMs in production systems
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Efficient manipulation of static and dynamic Web-related graphs
• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Experiences and lessons learnt from Web-based algorithms and system deployments

Abstract

Transporting hydrogen using pipelines is becoming increasingly relevant in the energy system, yet current cost estimates typically rely on simplistic approaches that overlook region-specific characteristics, leading to potential underestimations of costs. This paper examines hydrogen pipeline costs by incorporating regional geographical factors, such as land use, topography and existing infrastructure, together with political-economic factors represented through country-specific weighted average costs of capital. Using a GIS-based model, we demonstrate that the regional levelized cost of transportation can vary by up to a factor of three. Comparing our approach with conventional ones based on uniform detour factors in an existing European energy system analysis framework shows substantial deviations in trade flows and highlights the relevance of this work. We provide cost and route data for 4,900 potential global pipeline routes. Our findings yield valuable insights for further research and stakeholders when assessing the economic viability of hydrogen as a competitive energy carrier.

Problem

• Analyzing regional geographical impacts on hydrogen pipeline costs
• Incorporating political-economic factors into hydrogen transport cost estimates
• Providing global pipeline route data for economic viability assessment

Innovation

• GIS-based model for regional pipeline cost analysis
• Incorporates geographical and political-economic factors
• Provides cost data for 4,900 global routes