An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States

Markets for natural gas, electric power, and oil, and associated regulatory frameworks for the development of infrastructure to move said commodities in the United States, are mature – having developed over the last century and a half. In this thesis, I frame hydrogen as a fundamentally different en...

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Main Author: Hernandez, Drake Daniel
Other Authors: Deutch, John M.
Format: Thesis
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2022
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139462
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0382-1472
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author Hernandez, Drake Daniel
author2 Deutch, John M.
author_facet Deutch, John M.
Hernandez, Drake Daniel
author_sort Hernandez, Drake Daniel
collection MIT
description Markets for natural gas, electric power, and oil, and associated regulatory frameworks for the development of infrastructure to move said commodities in the United States, are mature – having developed over the last century and a half. In this thesis, I frame hydrogen as a fundamentally different energy commodity than those currently under the purview of federal regulators and assess potential regulatory frameworks for the development of interstate hydrogen transmission infrastructure. This thesis combines qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the use of regulatory frameworks to enable the development of such an interstate hydrogen transmission network. I conduct a historical analysis of commodity market, and infrastructure, development in the United States for the oil, natural gas, and electric power sectors. I then conduct a cross-sectional analysis of other countries’ stated hydrogen strategies to assess why the United States might consider using hydrogen in their energy sector. In order to justify an investigation into regulatory frameworks for the development of interstate hydrogen network development, I develop a linear program to evaluate the hydrogen transmission network which serves to minimize total expenditures on hydrogen based on power price and hydrogen demand assumptions. I find there are many cases in which the construction of a substantial hydrogen transmission network minimizes total expenditure on hydrogen within the United States. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of regulatory frameworks for the development of hydrogen transmission infrastructure. Across all frameworks assessed, I find an act of Congress is likely necessary if hydrogen is to play a substantive role in the United States’ future energy sector
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spelling mit-1721.1/1394622022-01-15T03:17:18Z An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States Hernandez, Drake Daniel Deutch, John M. Gençer, Emre Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Data, Systems, and Society Markets for natural gas, electric power, and oil, and associated regulatory frameworks for the development of infrastructure to move said commodities in the United States, are mature – having developed over the last century and a half. In this thesis, I frame hydrogen as a fundamentally different energy commodity than those currently under the purview of federal regulators and assess potential regulatory frameworks for the development of interstate hydrogen transmission infrastructure. This thesis combines qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the use of regulatory frameworks to enable the development of such an interstate hydrogen transmission network. I conduct a historical analysis of commodity market, and infrastructure, development in the United States for the oil, natural gas, and electric power sectors. I then conduct a cross-sectional analysis of other countries’ stated hydrogen strategies to assess why the United States might consider using hydrogen in their energy sector. In order to justify an investigation into regulatory frameworks for the development of interstate hydrogen network development, I develop a linear program to evaluate the hydrogen transmission network which serves to minimize total expenditures on hydrogen based on power price and hydrogen demand assumptions. I find there are many cases in which the construction of a substantial hydrogen transmission network minimizes total expenditure on hydrogen within the United States. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of regulatory frameworks for the development of hydrogen transmission infrastructure. Across all frameworks assessed, I find an act of Congress is likely necessary if hydrogen is to play a substantive role in the United States’ future energy sector S.M. 2022-01-14T15:12:51Z 2022-01-14T15:12:51Z 2021-06 2021-06-11T14:54:19.217Z Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139462 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0382-1472 In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted Copyright MIT http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/ application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Hernandez, Drake Daniel
An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States
title An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States
title_full An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States
title_fullStr An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States
title_full_unstemmed An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States
title_short An Evaluation of Regulatory Frameworks for the Development of Interstate Hydrogen Infrastructure in the United States
title_sort evaluation of regulatory frameworks for the development of interstate hydrogen infrastructure in the united states
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/139462
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0382-1472
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