Green hydrogen pipeline network planning for West African export corridors

West African countries have extensive renewable energy generation potential, making the region promising for green hydrogen production. However, most Africa–Europe hydrogen pipeline analyses focus on hydrogen supply from North Africa. Existing and planned pipeline infrastructure links West Africa with Europe, providing potential routes for hydrogen transport. Yet, regional collection network planning and physical simulation-based assessment are still lacking for these corridors. This paper proposes a two-stage framework using open data and open-source tools that combines mixed-integer linear network planning with physical gas network simulation to assess the technical feasibility of hydrogen collection networks connecting West African supply regions to these export corridors. The results show that the upstream collection network does not need substantial expansion when both corridors operate for hydrogen transport. The both-routes case supports a scenario export volume of approximately 7.2 Mt/yr, compared with approximately 3.6 Mt/yr for each individual corridor, while requiring comparable collection infrastructure and modeled compression power.