Supply costs of green chemical energy carriers at the European border: A meta-analysis.

Importing green chemical energy carriers is crucial for meeting European climate targets. However, estimating the costs of supplying these energy carriers to Europe remains challenging, leading to a wide range of reported supply-cost estimates. This study analyzes the estimated supply costs of green chemical energy carriers at the European border using a dataset of 1050 data points from 30 studies. The results reveal significant variations in supply costs, with a projected four-fold difference in 2030 and a five-fold difference in 2050 across all energy carriers. The main drivers of cost differences are varying production costs, particularly influenced by the weighted average costs of capital and capital expenditures of renewable energy sources, electrolyzers, and carrier-specific conversion processes. Transport costs also contribute to variations, mainly influenced by the choice of energy carrier and the weighted average costs of capital. To optimize cost-efficiency and sustainability in the chemical energy carrier sector, this paper recommends prioritizing transparency and sensitivity analyses of key input parameters, classifying energy carriers based on technological and economic status, and encouraging research and development to reduce production costs. • Meta-Analysis of 30 studies on the supply costs of chemical energy carriers to Europe. • Database of supply costs, cost components, and their parametric assumptions. • The supply costs of all energy carriers vary fourfold in 2030 and fivefold in 2050 and are dominated by production costs. • Most significant parameters for production costs are the weighted average costs of capital and capital expenditures of electrolyzers and conversion. • Transport costs depend significantly on the choice of energy carrier and the weighted average costs of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]