A comparative cost and qualitative analysis for the transportation of green energy carriers†

Green energy carriers play a pivotal role in the transition towards the pervasive use of variable renewable electricity, as they allow for efficient storage, transportation, and utilization of excess electricity generated in specific regions and/or over different time frames. In this paper, we analyze the cost-optimality of transporting eight liquid or gaseous green energy carriers, including H₂, via pipelines and shipping, over distances from 250 to 3000 km. To provide a more comprehensive deployability evaluation beyond purely cost-based criteria, we introduce several novel concepts that allow comparing green energy carriers on the basis of safety, applicability, and end-use characteristics. Our study reveals that H₂ exhibits significantly higher costs compared to other energy carriers across both transportation modes. For a pipeline and shipping distance of 250 km, we calculate H₂ transportation costs of 1.4 and 8.1 m€ per PJ, respectively, while for alternative carriers costs range from 0.1 to 0.7 and 0.2 to 3.1 m€ per PJ. For a distance of 3000 km, H₂ transportation costs through pipeline and shipping are estimated at 18.6 and 10.3 m€ per PJ, respectively, whereas for alternative carriers the cost ranges from 1.2 to 7.6 and 0.3 to 4.0 m€ per PJ. An integration of additional selection criteria, however, implies that the practical deployability differs significantly across different green energy carriers, and that no one-to-one relationship exists between deployability and transportation costs.