Gas, CO2 and hydrogen pipelines: the energy economics?

This model captures the energy economics of a pipeline carrying gas, CO2 or hydrogen. Specifically, we have modelled energy requirements using simple fluid mechanics, and modelled costs using past projects and technical papers, which are tabulated in the data-file.


Our conclusion is that new hydrogen pipelines will cost 2x new gas pipelines and 10x existing gas pipelines, per mcf-equivalent of energy transport (chart below), while the CO2 costs of transporting hydrogen are c3x higher.

Unit costs of all pipelines decreases as a function of their size. This matters particularly for CO2 transport and disposal, where it will be advantageous to enter the industry at scale (chart below).

You can stress test the economics directly in the model, by varying pipeline tariffs, capex costs, energy costs, CO2 prices, maintenance costs, pipeline diameter, pipeline distance, pipeline elevation, pipeline materials and compressor efficiencies.

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