Layout optimization of the hydrogen network orienting towards hydrogen production from offshore wind power

The coupling of offshore wind power and green hydrogen production offers great potential. However, many challenges remain in optimizing the green hydrogen network to ensure efficient offshore wind power utilization and hydrogen transport. For example, how to select locations for offshore hydrogen refueling and gathering stations? How to plan the offshore hydrogen transportation path? How to choose the transportation method? This paper proposes an integrated offshore hydrogen network framework with “distributed hydrogen production + hydrogen transport pipeline + distributed hydrogen refueling”. Taking a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, China, and the surrounding sea area as an example, the Bowyer-Watson algorithm generates the Delaunay triangular grid to determine hydrogen refueling station locations, while K-means++ clustering is employed to optimize the location of hydrogen gathering stations. On this basis, a hydrogen transmission network planning optimization model is constructed with the objective of minimizing total cost, and the optimal layout scheme is derived by using CPLEX. Finally, the sensitivity analysis reveals that the number of gathering stations and the offshore distance of wind farms significantly impact total costs; Additionally, economic and environmental comparisons between submarine pipelines and ship transportation show that pipelines provide a more optimal and feasible hydrogen transport solution.