Should hydrogen be produced at wind farms and then distributed through hydrogen pipelines or produced closer to hydrogen fueling stations after the electricity from the wind power has been distributed over transmission lines?

(Note: To learn more about hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and their potential to solve the oil crisis, please read the series of articles titled “Twelve Hydrogen Facts” which is part of the Hydrogen Manhattan Project.)

Let’s assume that a large wind farm is being built to provide hydrogen for vehicles in a city that is 500 miles away.

Is it better to produce the hydrogen at the wind farm at a facility with electrolyzers and then distribute the hydrogen through pipelines?

Or should the hydrogen be produced at a facility right outside of the city after the electricity from the wind power has been distributed over transmission lines?

The first point that needs to be made is about the U.S. electrical power grid.  Basically, there is very little spare capacity left in the electrical transmission lines.  This means that increases in the supply of electricity of any significance would require new electrical transmission lines to be built.

To get an idea of how much electricity would be required to power cars with hydrogen, I showed in the following analysis that almost exactly the same amount of electricity that is consumed in the U.S. today would be required for hydrogen to replace all of the gasoline that is consumed.

Therefore, the cost of building new electrical transmission lines will need to be compared with the cost of hydrogen pipelines.

There is no exact figure that can be given for the cost per mile for all new electrical transmission lines.  But here is some information from a variety of sources on what the approximate cost would be:

Progress Energy website:

“As with other components of utility infrastructure, siting and building transmission lines is very difficult.  It is also very expensive, often costing much more than $1 million per mile.”

Nebraska Public Power District website:

“Q: What is the cost per mile to build a high-voltage transmission line?

A: Some industry leaders have estimated that it costs $1 million per mile to build a transmission line, but there are so many uncertainties and price fluctuations this is, at best, a ball-park estimate.”

Popular Mechanics article on May 17, 2007:

“New transmission lines don’t come cheap, and can cost well over $1 million per mile.”

USA Today article on February 25, 2008:

“Stringing new wires is easier said than done.  Wind developers won’t go ahead with projects until transmission lines are in place, and utilities are loath to build the lines until they’re sure the developers won’t back out.  Also, the first wind developer in an area is often asked to shoulder much of the $1.5 million-per-mile cost of a high-voltage line.”

ATC (American Transmission Company) being cited in a Corporate Report Wisconsin article from June 2006:

“Looking ahead 10 years, ATC has outlined $3.4 billion in construction plans, including 517 miles of new transmission lines and improvements to 1,025 miles of existing line.  Building infrastructure isn’t cheap: it costs about $2 million/mile for a 345 kV line and $1 million/mile for lower voltages.”

Based on the information given from a variety of sources, new electrical transmission lines can be estimated to typically cost between $1 million per mile and $2 million per mile.

On the other hand, researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) estimate that polymer hydrogen pipelines will cost around $500,000 per mile.  An ORNL group led by Dr. Barton Smith did a study that showed a 13.75 inch polymer hydrogen pipeline could provide the hydrogen necessary to fuel 50% of the light-duty vehicles in an urban city with a population of 1,000,000.

Furthermore, electricity will have transmission losses, but hydrogen will have virtually no transmission losses.  However, this cost would likely be offset by the additional hydrogen storage facilities that would be needed if the hydrogen were produced at the wind farm and the slightly higher compression costs involved with this method of distribution.

Moreover, hydrogen pipelines are preferable to electrical transmission lines, because they would have a much smaller footprint and would be underground.

Therefore, the best option is to produce the hydrogen at the wind farm and then distribute it through hydrogen pipelines to a hydrogen storage facility that is right outside of the city.

One key point to mention is that transmission lines are unlikely to be an issue with solar power.  The hydrogen produced from solar power will almost certainly be produced by more efficient and lower-cost methods than electrolysis.  Therefore, the hydrogen will be produced on-site at the solar facility, so pipelines will have to be used to distribute the hydrogen.