Hydrogen Hubs: Electrolyzers, Storage, Transport, and End-Use Cases

Course Description

Hydrogen Hubs: Electrolyzers, Storage, Transport, and End-Use Cases is a three-day, hands-on program focused on designing an end-to-end hydrogen hub that is bankable, operable, and certification-ready. Participants will learn how to size electrolyzer-based production for grid and renewable energy coupling, compare storage and transport pathways, and define end-use delivery requirements across industrial, mobility, and power sectors. The program integrates techno-economic analysis through LCOH modeling, logistics planning, safety and codes alignment, and carbon-intensity accounting. Participants will complete the course with a preliminary hub design, a sizing and LCOH worksheet, a storage/transport pathway selection, and a dispatch plan supported by KPIs and a carbon-intensity snapshot.

Aim

To equip participants to design, size, and dispatch an end-to-end hydrogen hub—from electrolyzers through storage, transport, and end-use—by applying techno-economic analysis (CAPEX/OPEX, LCOH), safety and codes compliance, logistics optimization, and carbon-intensity accounting, resulting in a defensible hub plan with KPIs and a carbon-intensity snapshot suitable for certification and investment discussions.

Course Objectives

Participants will be able to:

• Compare PEM, Alkaline, and SOEC electrolyzers based on efficiency, dynamics, degradation, and duty-cycle fit.

• Size production systems and balance-of-plant for grid versus renewable coupling, including power quality and utilization impacts.

• Build and stress-test an LCOH model with sensitivity analysis for major cost and performance drivers.

• Select storage and transport pathways (CGH₂, LH₂, LOHC, NH₃) with quantified costs, energy penalties, and losses.

• Define end-use delivery requirements across sectors, including purity, pressure, ramping, and reliability expectations.

• Calculate carbon intensity (kg CO₂e/kg H₂) and align documentation with certification and guarantees of origin.

• Apply hydrogen safety principles and key codes, including ventilation, detection, zoning, siting, and emergency planning.

• Develop a dispatch plan and operating governance approach using telemetry, KPIs, SLAs, and risk controls.

Course Structure

Module 1: Electrolyzers and Hydrogen Production

• Technology overview: PEM, Alkaline, SOEC (efficiency, responsiveness, water requirements, degradation behavior)

• Sizing and coupling: grid vs renewables (PV/wind), capacity factor, curtailment absorption, power quality considerations

• Economics and policy: CAPEX/OPEX drivers, stack replacement, key LCOH levers, incentives and permitting factors

• Safety fundamentals: hydrogen properties, ventilation strategy, detection and monitoring, area classification

• Practical session: develop a quick plant sizing and LCOH calculator for a sample hub

Module 2: Storage and Transport Pathways

• Storage options: CGH₂, LH₂, LOHC, NH₃ (energy penalties, boil-off, turnaround, operational constraints)

• Assets and codes: vessels, cryogenic tanks, tube trailers; siting setbacks and key standards considerations

• Networks and logistics: trucking vs pipeline options, blending limits, compression energy, hub-and-spoke design logic

• Risk and HSE: leak scenarios, dispersion principles, sensor placement, emergency response planning

• Practical session: size storage, select a transport mix, and estimate logistics costs and pathway losses

Module 3: End-Use Integration and Hub Dispatch

• End-use sectors: refining, DRI steel, chemicals, turbines/engines, fuel cells (mobility/backup) with purity and duty-cycle requirements

• Integration design: demand portfolios, temporal matching, hybrid hydrogen–power operation, curtailment valorization

• Carbon intensity and certification: CI accounting (kg CO₂e/kg H₂), guarantees of origin, low-carbon labeling readiness

• Operations and governance: telemetry and KPIs, SLAs, risk register, stakeholder coordination

• Practical session: build a hub dispatch plan linking production, storage, and deliveries; generate CI and KPI snapshots

Who Should Enrol

• Energy, process, chemical, mechanical, or electrical engineers

• Project developers, EPC teams, and hydrogen OEM stakeholders (electrolyzers, storage, transport)

• Industrial users in refining, DRI steel, chemicals, power, and mobility integration

• Utilities, IPPs, and renewable energy planners working on grid coupling and project design

• City/state energy planners, ports and logistics operators, and hub consortium leads

• HSE and risk professionals, compliance officers, and safety managers

• Policy, permitting, and regulatory officials

• Investors, lenders, and commercial/finance analysts evaluating hydrogen projects

• Researchers and senior students in energy systems

Workshop Outcomes

Participants will leave with:

• Electrolyzer sizing and power/water requirement estimates for PEM, Alkaline, and SOEC pathways

• A grid vs renewable coupling strategy accounting for utilization, curtailment, and power quality

• A working LCOH model including CAPEX/OPEX, stack life, incentives, and sensitivity analysis

• A justified storage and transport mix (CGH₂/LH₂/LOHC/NH₃) with cost and loss estimates

• End-use requirement alignment across key sectors including purity and duty-cycle matching

• Carbon intensity calculation outputs suitable for certification/GoO discussion

• A safety and codes baseline checklist (ventilation, detection, zoning, siting)

• A dispatch plan with KPI and CI snapshot plus governance basics