Optimal design of hydrogen delivery infrastructure for multi-sector end uses at regional scale

Hydrogen is a promising solution for the decarbonisation of several hard-to-abate end uses, which are mainly in the industrial and transport sectors. The development of an extensive hydrogen delivery infrastructure is essential to effectively activate and deploy a hydrogen economy, connecting production, storage, and demand. This work adopts a mixed-integer linear programming model to study the cost-optimal design of a future hydrogen infrastructure in presence of cross-sectoral hydrogen uses, taking into account spatial and temporal variations, multiple production technologies, and optimised multi-mode transport and storage. The model is applied to a case study in the region of Sicily in Italy, aiming to assess the infrastructural needs to supply the regional demand from transport and industrial sectors and to transfer hydrogen imported from North Africa towards Europe, thus accounting for the region's role as transit point. The analysis integrates multiple production technologies (electrolysis supplied by wind and solar energy, steam reforming with carbon capture) and transport options (compressed hydrogen trucks, liquid hydrogen trucks, pipelines). Results show that the average cost of hydrogen delivered to demand points decreases from 3.75 €/kgH2 to 3.49 €/kgH2 when shifting from mobility-only to cross-sectoral end uses, indicating that the integrated supply chain exploits more efficiently the infrastructural investments. Although pipeline transport emerges as the dominant modality, delivery via compressed hydrogen trucks and liquid hydrogen trucks remains relevant even in scenarios characterised by large hydrogen flows as resulting from cross-sectoral demand, demonstrating that the system competitiveness is maximised through multi-mode integration.