Strategic planning with risk control of hydrogen supply chains for vehicle use under uncertainty in operating costs: A case study of Spain Nagore Sabio, Mamdouh Gadalla, Gonzalo Guille ´n-Gosa ´ lbez*, Laureano Jime ´nez Departament d’Enginyeria Quimica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Paisos Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Spain article info Article history: Received 8 February 2010 Received in revised form 29 March 2010 Accepted 2 April 2010 Available online 15 May 2010 Keywords: Hydrogen Supply chain Mixed-integer linear programming Multi-objective optimization Risk management Uncertainty abstract In this paper we present a decision-support tool to address the strategic planning of hydrogen supply chains for vehicle use under uncertainty in the operating costs. Given is a superstructure of alternatives that embeds a set of available technologies to produce, store and deliver hydrogen. The objective of our study is to determine the optimal design of the productionedistribution network capable of fulfilling a predefined hydrogen demand. The design task is formulated as a multi-scenario mixed-integer linear problem (MILP) that considers the uncertainty associated with the coefficients of the objective function of the model (i.e. operating costs, raw materials prices, etc.). The novelty of the approach pre- sented is that it allows controlling the variation of the economic performance of the hydrogen network in the space of uncertain parameters. This is accomplished by using a risk metric that is appended to the objective function as an additional criterion to be optimized. An efficient decomposition method is also presented in order to expedite the solution of the underlying multi-objective model by exploiting its specific structure. The capabilities of the proposed modeling framework and solution strategy are illustrated through the application to a real case study based on Spain, for which valuable insights are obtained. ª 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The growing concern about possible disruptions in the oil supply and the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emis- sions have fostered in recent years the research for a more sustainable energy and transport model. Globally, the trans- portation sector accounts for an 18% of carbon dioxide global emissions and a 25% of primary energy use [50,51]. Within this context, hydrogen seems a potential alternative fuel and energy carrier since it can be produced safely and locally, besides having the possibility of being environmentally friendly. Not in vain, several books and information sources have been devoted to explain the opportunities and chal- lenges of a future hydrogen economy [4e6,11,32]. Recent views suggest that the transition to the hydrogen economy will depend on two main factors that must be developed in parallel: (1) the construction of an efficient hydrogen infrastructure, and (2) the adoption of policies promoting fuel cell technologies [4,30]. The development of an efficient infrastructure for producing and delivering hydrogen appears as a key factor, both to achieve the hydrogen transi- tion and for its future development [41,47,48,22]. Thus, the design of an economically viable hydrogen Supply Chain (SC) could play an important and decisive role on the final market * Corresponding authors. Tel.: þ34 977558618; fax: þ34 977559621. E-mail address: gonzalo.guillen@urv.cat (G. Guille ´ n-Gosa ´ lbez). Available at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he international journal of hydrogen energy 35 (2010) 6836 e6852 0360-3199/$ e see front matter ª 2010 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.04.010