Next Nordic Green Transport Wave – Large Vehicles

Hydrogen transport from large-scale production points to Nordic consumers in all Nordic countries.

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Abstract
The availability of hydrogen transport containers is studied by using data from three manufacturers of hydrogen transport containers (Umoe Advanced Composites (UAC), Wystrach, and Hexagon). One container type from UAC is glass fibre based low CAPEX alternative, while the two others are more costly carbon fibre alternatives. The container data has been combined here with the traffic regulations reported in Deliverable 2.3.The main outcome is the maximum amounts of hydrogen that could be transported on Nordic roads using hydrogen transport containers. The focus is on the maximum amounts of hydrogen only; not on the operation efficiency nor overall economics (e.g., accounting for things like number of fillings, or container/compressor/other equipment utilisation rate).The operation time of loading or unloading containers may have significant importance on total cost of ownership (TCO). Therefore, especially for short distance transport this is an important parameter and may favour some configurations. This is also omitted in this study.If hydrogen is transported to the hydrogen refuelling station (HRS), the selected pressure level should be optimised as a part of overall hydrogen supply chain optimisation. It seems that higher pressure levels are preferred in the future, as this will lower cost of compression onsite the HRS as well as improving the HRS reliability.The focus in this study is large scale hydrogen gas transport. Therefore, 40 ft and 45 ft containers are the most interesting container sizes. However, in many cases, also 20 ft containers (including hook load model) may be of interest for lower loading and unloading times, especially for HRS with lower hydrogen dispensing amounts.This outcome can be used for building hydrogen supply chains based on centralised or semi-centralised hydrogen production and transport to single hydrogen refuelling stations or “hydrogen hubs” that can refuel heavy-duty vehicles as well as other transportation equipment (maritime, trains etc).The summary of results for Nordic countries is shown in Table 1. The results are dependent on available container solutions. Especially for new pressure levels (due to new EN 17339 standard) results should be taken as illustrative.