The Future of Hydrogen Trade Flows

The only way to move hydrogen economically is, as a gas, bipypline. Liquid hydrogen will struggle to find any role in the future energy or transport systems because of its poor volumetric energy density and difficulties of handling. Clean methanol will be made near to sources of cheap clean hydrogen and some of it will be shipped around the world for use as a chemical feedstock. The prohibitive cost of long distance imports means that energy intensive industries will inevitably migrate to regions with cheap clean energy. Such flows that do materialise will take decades beyond 2050.