Planning the roll-out of hydrogen fueling infrastructure for transportation : a case study in Spain, Andalusia and Seville

Abstract

The hydrogen economy is regarded, at present, as an alternative to the existing energy paradigm: a new scheme in which, by using local resources, fuel for transportation can be produced from different sources, and can also be distributed and stored safely. Moreover, if the hydrogen is produced from renewable energy sources, the step towards its use becomes a step towards the sustainability and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. One of the major obstacles for the development of this alternative energy model, is the so-called "the chicken and egg dilemma": (1) Users will not purchase a vehicle that uses hydrogen as fuel until they can refuel with a minimum of comfort, that is to say, until a basic infrastructure exists. (2) Car manufacturers will not produce these vehicles until there is a demand for them. (3) No company will deploy hydrogen fueling stations without having a minimum number of potential customers. Therefore, to kick off the transition of the market towards hydrogen vehicles, a planning of the initial development of the infrastructure leading to the solution of this problem is required. In this thesis, different methods to plan the roll-out of hydrogen fueling infrastructure for transportation under different conditions are discussed. These methods are used to propose roll-out strategies for different spatial units and they are applied to the specific cases of Spain, Andalusia, and Seville.