Implementing green alternatives in the heavy­-duty mobility market is required to reach the set climate goals of 2050 and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Refuelling infrastructures based on alternative fuels such as hydrogen are not sufficiently available. This poses a barrier to large scale implementation and investment in new emission­ free heavy-­duty fuel cell vehicles.

Early market value chain configurations and low refuelling station demand levels are researched and evaluated to determine the optimal future strategy decision based on operational decision-making results. A Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) optimisation model is adopted to simulate a small scale hydrogen value chain dominated by hydrogen production directly from wind energy at the wind turbine location. Additionally, a method is proposed to define future demand for two separate end-­user categories at a hydrogen refuelling station. The spatial configuration of the researched infrastructure is based on a ”Hub” and ”Satellite” concept with distributed production locations and demand locations.

With the current market pricing of all value chain components, cost parity with diesel fuel is reached if the total production capacity of the value chain is utilised. Future cost development will result in a lower total cost for hydrogen per kg than the diesel fuel equivalent. The hydrogen refuelling infrastructure based on wind energy is resilient against increased energy price fluctuations by an expected increase in the installed capacity of renewable energy sources. The operational decision ­making process regarding the hydrogen production process is generally independent of the distribution system size, spatial configuration, and type of non­-stationary storage container, taking into account similar demand within a specified time frame. The hydrogen infrastructure project of DUWAAL by HYGRO is used as a basis for the research.