A study from Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University found that while hydrogen production, storage and fuel cell technologies are advancing rapidly, the hydrogen distribution infrastructure is developing at half the speed, creating a critical bottleneck that could put billions in clean energy at risk.

The paper “Dynamics of knowledge production: A relational-event analysis of patent citation hazards in hydrogen technologies” was published in Sustainable Futures.

The findings are an important milestone in recognizing that, while other hydrogen technologies improve and costs fall, distribution expenses could take up a large share of hydrogen system budgets, significantly limiting overall efficiency and growth of the hydrogen sector.