Paths to a sustainable hydrogen supply chain (21.RP2.0065) – Completed

A fully functional online hydrogen supply chain tool for the evaluation of hydrogen supply chain options in an Australian context.

Hydrogen Pathways, a fully functional online hydrogen supply chain tool, has been designed and developed to help the public and commercial clients estimate costs and emissions (Hydrogen Pathways: https://www.fenex.org.au/hydrogen-pathways-app/).

The Challenge

The devloped website provides a comprehensive platform to explore the stages of the hydrogen supply chain and assess their environmental and economic impacts.

The final challenge for the Hydrogen Pathways app is to develop the procedures of inquiry for new input information to ensure accuracy for the tool. As rapid technological advancements occur in the hydrogen supply chain, the information quickly becomes outdated, therefore to ensure accuracy for the tool, it is crucial that the input data is periodically updated.

In order to obtain updated costing data the free-ware open access version of the App is to be developed into a valuable teaching tool. A course plan will initially be produced for feedback from project partners. Teaching materials are to be drafted, piloted, and adjusted based on partner input. This will be followed by demonstration of one of the case studies using the App to the project partners for feedback. Recorded versions of the teaching materials will be produced.

The Solution

This project developed the Hydrogen Pathways app to help the public and commercial clients estimate costs and emissions. Three case studies demonstrated the capabilities of the Hydrogen Pathways tool: (1) Power generation for report communities, (2) Hydrogen generation at mine sites, and (3) Hydrogen vectors for export to Japan. The App allows industry clients to rapidly and quantitatively consider different hydrogen supply chain scenarios.

The tool is adaptable to variable user inputs and supply chain component preferences and can output a detailed overview of the dispensed hydrogen total (and components) costs as well as collective technological readiness. Cost estimate forecasting is predominantly done on a case-by-case basis.

Critical data, such as capital and operating costs, emissions intensities and feedstock usage rates, has been captures from reputable sources, analysed and stored in a database used with the interactive tool. The database enables comparison of technology-specific data (e.g. electrolyser capital cost) to understand average and range values for given parameters. The tool will maintain two tiers of user access: basic functionality which is freely available to the public, and premium access which will be managed by the commercialisation partner.

The Impact

The tool is used by over 25 industry clients and provides direct techno economic and environmental analysis results which enables clients to evaluate hydrogen pathways according to their objectives, costs, emissions and technical feasibility.

Next Steps

Having established the functional online hydrogen supply chain tool, the final task is to develop the free-ware open accessversion of the App into a valuable teaching tool to facilitate the annual provision of the updated costing data to optimise the utility of the tool.