Developing a methodology to draw and compare hydrogen pipelines in the Dutch EEZ in 2050

Abstract

Hydrogen gas is seen as an important solution to transport and store the energy produced by Offshore Wind Farms. However, for hydrogen to be applied on a large scale, an extensive infrastructural network is needed. Since the North Sea is spatially dominated by many reserved areas and economic activities, this will cause challenges in the planning of the infrastructure; The infrastructural elements, like hydrogen pipelines, are likely to intersect these areas, causing conflicting interests. The research question for this study therefore is;

How to optimize the routing of hydrogen pipelines considering current use functions and existing infrastructure?

To answer this question a spatial model was developed making use of QGIS and Python programming. This model integrates use function areas, expert use factors, source/sink locations and corridor and reuse trajectories in order to run Least Cost Path algorithms across use factor raster layers. For each of these scenarios the model was also run for the minimum and maximum expert input factor values in order to investigate the influence of these factors on the trajectories. Although the model still has some shortcomings and limitations, the method shows potential to be used as a tool in the early stages of plan making in a broad area of application.