The key argument of the paper this is based on is that storing H2 is difficult if you don't have salt caverns. Then you need H2 pressure tanks, and that is expe

The key argument of the paper this is based on is that storing H2 is difficult if you don't have salt caverns. Then you need H2 pressure tanks, and that is expensive and also requires a lot of energy. And you don't have salt caverns everywhere. The authors compare this in an energy model, and come to the conclusion that methanol comes out on top if you don't have cheap (aka salt cavern) h2 storage. But of course, there are a lot of assumptions going into this. Nice bonus: It's an open source model, so others can test it with different assumptions.