Decarbonizing the Spanish transportation sector by 2050: design and techno-economic assessment of the hydrogen generation and supply chain

Abstract

The transport sector is difficult to decarbonize due to its high reliance on fossil fuels, accounting for 37% of global end-use sectors emissions in 2021. Therefore, this work proposes an energy model to replace the Spanish vehicle fleet by hydrogen-fueled vehicles by 2050. Thus, six regions are defined according to their proximity to regasification plants, where hydrogen generation hubs are implemented. Likewise, renewables deployment is subject to their land availability. Hydrogen is transported through an overhauled primary natural gas transport network, while two distribution methods are compared for levelized cost of hydrogen minimization: gaseous pipeline vs liquid hydrogen supply in trucks. Hence, a capacity of 443.1 GW of renewables, 214 GW of electrolyzers and 3.45 TWh of hydrogen storage is required nationwide. Additionally, gaseous hydrogen distribution is on average 17% cheaper than liquid hydrogen delivery. Finally, all the regions present lower prices per km traveled than gasoline or diesel.