Four European gas transmissions system operator (TSO) companies have joined forces to develop a hydrogen pipeline through Central Europe.

Slovakia’s Eustream, Gas TSO of Ukraine, the Czech Republic’s Net4gas and Germany’s OGE aim to connect hydrogen demand areas in Germany with hydrogen production facilities in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

“Hydrogen is a promising technology at the early stage of economy-wide adoption,” says Pawel Stanczak, deputy CEO for development and transformation of Gas TSO of Ukraine.

“Partnership with the neighbouring TSOs could provide great synergies for green hydrogen development.”

110 TWh/yr – Potential German hydrogen demand by 2030

Slovakia and the Czech Republic are already operating a large natural gas pipeline corridor connecting Ukraine with European demand areas, which can be repurposed to transport hydrogen.

“Our robust transmission system would offer a flexible and very cost-effective way of transporting green energy further to EU markets,” says Rastislav Nukovic, Eustream’s general director.

Germany is expected to be a major demand area for hydrogen in Europe, with the government’s hydrogen strategy expecting demand of about 90-110 TWh/yr by 2030. The projects partners say they could export up to 40TWh/yr.

The initiative is known as the Central European Hydrogen Corridor and is forming partnerships with hydrogen producers, large hydrogen consumers and other gas infrastructure companies.

A group of 23 natural gas transmission operators have  separate plans to develop a 40,000km European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) at a cost of €43-81bn ($51-97bn), with about 70pc of the network based on the use of repurposed natural gas grids.

The scope of the EHB project has expanded since July last year, when the group initially identified a potential network of 23,000km covering ten countries.

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Author: Tom Young