Gasunie: decision on hydrogen infrastructure is milestone for energy transition

Gasunie is ready to develop the national infrastructure for the transport of hydrogen, as requested by the State Secretary for Energy and Climate today. In doing so, Gasunie is making a contribution to a future sustainable living environment. Hydrogen is in fact an essential component of the sustainable energy mix of the future. Gasunie is currently already responsible for the transport, storage and conversion of natural gas within the Netherlands.

Han Fennema, CEO of Gasunie, is pleased with the decision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs: "This decision is a milestone in the context of the energy transition. We are therefore happy to make our contribution to the further development of hydrogen in the Netherlands. This is good for our country's leading position in this field. In fact, the Netherlands will be the first country to make the existing natural gas network suitable for hydrogen". Gasunie is ready to facilitate the national transport of hydrogen for all market players, emphasises Fennema: "With our knowledge and expertise we are making a contribution to the European climate objectives for 2030 and 2050. Gasunie has extensive experience with the safe and reliable transport, storage and conversion of natural gas. And in the field of hydrogen we have gained experience with the underground pipeline that we converted to hydrogen three years ago in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen." Gasunie is already preparing for a national hydrogen network and expects to start developing the first pipelines after the summer. "Naturally, we are taking all the steps in close coordination with current and future users, partners and other stakeholders."

Hydrogen is making a major contribution to reducing CO₂ emissions in industry, and soon also in mobility and the built environment. Gasunie CEO Fennema: "That's good news for the climate and for the Dutch economy. All industrial regions will have rapid access to the hydrogen infrastructure. This will give the Dutch economy an important starting position. The first parts of the transport network are being developed in the regions where hydrogen activities are most concrete, such as Rotterdam and Groningen." Making existing natural gas pipelines suitable for hydrogen starts with the infrastructure within the regional industrial clusters. Gasunie will then connect these to each other, to storage locations and to other countries. "The interconnected national infrastructure will not only link our ports and industrial clusters with each other and with hydrogen storage locations, but also with our neighbouring countries. This will make the Netherlands the gateway to Europe for the global hydrogen market," says Fennema.

Gasunie estimates the investment for the entire project at € 1.5 billion. This investment is necessary because the infrastructure must be fully available from the very first use onward. At the same time, the capacity must also be large enough to meet future demand. The national hydrogen network must be ready in 2027 and will consist of 85% recycled natural gas pipes, supplemented by new pipes. A major advantage of this is that the costs will be a factor of four lower than if entirely new pipelines were laid. The capacity of the network is 10 GigaWatt, equal to 25% of the total energy consumption of Dutch industry. In time, this can be expanded further.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs' decision follows the HyWay 27 report, for which a broad partnership investigated whether and how Gasunie's existing natural gas network could be reused for hydrogen. The study shows that reusing natural gas pipelines is a safe and cost-effective way of transporting hydrogen. This means that hydrogen is not only sustainable as an energy carrier, but that we are also dealing sustainably with the current infrastructure by reusing it for hydrogen transport.