New hydrogen infrastructure is starting to materialise as the world accelerates towards Net Zero – and pipelines will be ‘far better than vessels’ at moving hydrogen over short to medium range distances, according to new Rystad Energy research.
Today, over 4,300km already exists for hydrogen transportation with over 90% located in Europe and North America. Rystad Energy estimates that there are about 91 planned pipeline projects in the world, totaling 30,300km and due to come online by around 2035.
In cases where hydrogen will be shipped (as hydrogen or its derivatives), it will eventually be distributed on land using hydrogen pipelines, which makes transport via pipelines a critical transportation mode for the gas.
Hydrogen pipelines are already used to supply industrial hubs (at petrochemical plants for example). As supply scales up and moves from areas with abundant and renewable energy to demand centres, long transmission lines will be a necessity and these pipelines would require larger diameters and higher pressure for cost effectiveness and consequently higher steel grades.
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