Hydrogen
Pipelines
The most cost-effective way to move gaseous hydrogen over a
long distance is via pipeline.
International
Renewable Hydrogen Transmission Demonstration Facility (IRHTDF)
Bill Leighty, of the Leighty
Foundation, has been studying the possibility of using
hydrogen pipelines for several years. His groundbreaking
paper, developed in conjunction with Geoffrey Keith of Synapse
Energy Economics, Transmitting Windpower from North Dakota to
Chicago: New HVDC Electric Lines or Hydrogen Pipeline,
revealed the complexities, as well as the promise, of developing a
large pipeline system in the Midwest. A newer paper, Large
Stranded Renewables: the International Renewable Hydrogen
Transmission Demonstration Facility (IRHDTF) was published
in the Proceedings of the 19th
World Energy Congress, Sydney, AUS, 5-9 Sept 04.
Two new posters, suggesting that we begin now to design and
build a pilot-scale gaseous hydrogen (GH2) pipeline system, will
also be presented at the event. One of the posters can be
seen here.
If successful, the IRHTDF could be scaled up to harvest Earth's
large, diverse, dispersed, remote, renewable energy resources,
delivered as GH2 fuel at high flowrate over long distances.
