Germany is preparing major plans for extensive hydrogen network across the country. The German transmission system operators (TSOs) presented on July 12th the first modeling result for a supra-regional hydrogen core network up to the year 2032.
At a request by the government, the operators of the country’s largest fossil-gas pipelines are planning a “core” hydrogen pipeline network of over 11,000km in length to be developed by 2032.
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The goal of the network is to connect demand for green hydrogen in the German industry with production sites and imports. According to the pipeline map, a concentration of pipelines in Germany’s western industrial heartlands, close to Düsseldorf is visible.
A total of 309 hydrogen projects are considered for the core hydrogen network. The network is planned to be sufficient to carry hydrogen from all 10GW of Germany’s targeted electrolyzer capacity by 2030.
The total feed-in capacity for hydrogen is 101 GW. The capacity to be made available via the network for hydrogen supply from imports is 87 GW. The imports are through ship terminals at which hydrogen is carried out in another form like B. LOHC or ammonia, transported and fed as a gas into the network.
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The plan issued by the TSOs is a draft that will be evaluated and optimized in the next steps, taking into account incoming reports as part of the “opportunity to comment” from potential hydrogen network operators. The TSOs assumes that the hydrogen core network will be smaller than 11,000km after optimization.
According to the announcement, Germany is hoping the network operators will fund the core hydrogen network entirely with private sector cash, via network fees. The government will, however, consider partial subsidies as part of a detailed regulatory proposal for the scheme, which is currently under development.
The draft is now out for comments and feedback, open until July 28. People willing to send feedback can do it at info@fnb-gas.de. The TSOs have also provided a corresponding form on the website of the TSO Gas.
