What infrastructure is in place for hydrogen?

Pipelines

• Approximately 700 miles of hydrogen pipelines are currently operating in the United States (compared to more than one million miles of natural gas pipelines nationwide). Owned by merchant hydrogen producers, these pipelines are located where large hydrogen users, such as petroleum refineries and chemical plants, are concentrated (for example, in the Gulf Coast region).[1]
• Transporting gaseous hydrogen via existing pipelines is currently the lowest-cost option for delivering large volumes of hydrogen. The high initial capital costs of new pipeline construction, however, constitute a major barrier to expanding hydrogen pipeline delivery infrastructure.[2]
• - One possibility for rapidly expanding the hydrogen delivery infrastructure is to adapt part of the natural gas delivery infrastructure. Converting current natural gas pipelines to carry a blend of natural gas and hydrogen (up to about 20% hydrogen) may require minimal pipeline modification. Converting these pipelines to deliver pure hydrogen may require more substantial modifications.[3]

Trucks, Railcars, Ships, and Barges

• Trucks, railcars, ships and barges can be used to deliver compressed hydrogen gas, cryogenic liquid hydrogen, or novel hydrogen liquid or solid carriers.

Bulk Storage

• While geologic bulk storage is common practice in the natural gas industry, the properties of hydrogen are different from natural gas, creating the need for further research to evaluate the suitability of geologic storage for hydrogen, as well as to ensure proper engineering of the storage site and hydrogen containment.[4]

Interface with Vehicles

• The manner in which a vehicle will store hydrogen on-board will directly impact the manner in which it will interact with the hydrogen distribution system, and thus will have an impact upon the design of the vehicle interface. As such, this is an area of hydrogen technology still in need of further research. Home energy stations can be used to power both personal cars as well as to provide utility energy for a residential property. An example is Honda’s Home Energy Station IV.