Many regions of the world have developed hydrogen roadmaps, among them Europe and the USA. The project “HyWays-IPHE”, funded by the European Commission and the U.S. DOE aims at comparing the hydrogen roadmaps, their models and their interactions with stakeholders. The goal is to improve understanding about the ongoing activities and therewith support the roadmapping process in further IPHE countries, particularly in Asia. Within the project a multi-national group of institutes compared models and approaches applied for hydrogen roadmaps in Europe and the U.S. Amongst others, stakeholder involvement, regional infrastructure build-up analyses, energy system modelling and energy price assumptions, modelling of economic impacts and vehicle cost analyses were assessed quantitatively and qualitatively.
In both regions, stakeholders hold a strong although different input into the programs. Existing models used to analyze regional infrastructure build-up scenarios were mapped with respect to objectives, spatial detail, spatial extent and data handling. An extensive toolbox is available, however lacking models with imperfect foresight and detailed global interactions. Energy system models were similar but the prices assumed exogenously for fossil energy sources (oil, natural gas, coal) were much higher in the European model than the endogenous US price estimates. In addition, the European model was constrained in choice of primary energy according to stakeholder input leading to high diversity, while the US model was not constrained. Employment effects were modelled similarly in both regions. Also vehicle costs are comparable, however based on different assumptions on components and cost reduction.