International supply chains for a hydrogen ramp-up: Techno-economic assessment of hydrogen transport routes to Germany

The widespread deployment of green hydrogen plays a crucial role in decarbonizing economies. Achieving global market competitiveness for green hydrogen necessitates not only competitive production costs, high generation capacity, and favorable political-economic conditions but also cost-effective transportation solutions. This is particularly vital for energy-intensive industrial nations like Germany, which will increasingly rely on hydrogen imports. This study assesses Germany due to its significant industrial demand and strategic location in Europe. Norway, Spain, and Morocco were chosen for their potential as major hydrogen exporters based on geographical proximity and renewable energy resources. Australia serves as a reference scenario for evaluating differing transportation costs depending on the distance. The transportation of compressed gaseous hydrogen via new and retrofitted natural gas pipelines, or liquefied hydrogen and liquid organic hydrogen carriers via maritime routes, currently represent the most promising alternatives. This paper conducts a techno-economic analysis on the transportation of green hydrogen from these countries to Germany by 2050. This year is pivotal as it aligns with Europe’s ambitious decarbonization goals, by which time a robust hydrogen market is anticipated to be established. The analysis employs the concept of Levelized Transportation Cost, evaluating costs across actual transportation routes, to provide insights into the most economically viable methods for hydrogen transport in a future decarbonized Europe. Various scenarios were designed to explore future developments. The analysis finds that for all countries examined, pipeline transportation of compressed hydrogen presents the lowest costs (0.08 €/kg to 1.34 €/kg), rendering it preferable to maritime transport options − with costs for liquefied hydrogen ranging between 1.73 €/kg and 3.40 €/kg, and for liquid organic hydrogen carriers between 2.33 €/kg and 7.29 €/kg. Transportation from Norway across all examined supply chains yields the lowest costs, followed by Spain.