Gasunie and hydrogen

Gasunie is working on tomorrow’s carbon-neutral energy system. That energy system will look very different than it does today. Natural gas will remain necessary in the coming years, as will an efficient gas infrastructure. But the development of hydrogen, green gas, thermal energy and solar and wind energy is significantly increasing the number of renewable energy carriers in the energy mix. Gasunie is working on ways to make these energy carriers work together intelligently and is investing in energy infrastructure to make this possible. In doing so, we focus on energy-intensive and industrial users. They are responsible for much of the CO₂ emitted in the Netherlands, so making them more sustainable will be a huge step towards achieving our climate ambitions.

Hydrogen is becoming an indispensable link in our future sustainable energy system. It is usable as a raw material or a fuel, and it is easy to store and transport. The Netherlands has an extra advantage in this area: with just a few modifications, we can make the existing gas infrastructure suitable for hydrogen.

The use of hydrogen requires an efficient and reliable transport network. That is why the government commissioned Hynetwork to create the Dutch hydrogen network. Hynetwork is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gasunie. The hydrogen transport network must connect industrial clusters to each other, to other countries, and to hydrogen storage and import sites. Those industrial clusters are home to the high-volume consumers of hydrogen.

The foundation of the new network is the existing natural gas network with 12,000 kilometres of pipelines. About 85% of the hydrogen network will consist of existing pipelines, and the remaining 15% will be newly constructed. This is a sustainable and relatively inexpensive solution.

Besides the Dutch hydrogen network, Gasunie is also planning offshore hydrogen transport networks in the Dutch and German Economic Zones of the North Sea.

HyStock is developing caverns for hydrogen storage in impermeable salt layers in the ground. Storage in caverns is important for the flexible use of hydrogen and proper coordination between supply and demand at any time. Similar caverns have been used to store natural gas for years, so there is a lot of experience in this field.

We expect future demand for green hydrogen (and hydrogen carriers) in northwestern Europe to exceed what can be produced locally from renewable sources. That will create a need for large-scale import of green hydrogen. Together with partners, Gasunie will provide the necessary import infrastructure in Dutch and German ports so international chains can be established and supply and demand can be connected. One example is the development of the ACE terminal in Rotterdam.