Europe has the potential to develop a hydrogen pipeline network connecting 21 countries that would enable imports from Ukraine, North Africa, Norway and Russia by 2040, according to a group of 23 natural gas transmission operators.

Development of the 40,000km European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) would cost €43-81bn ($51-97bn), with about 70pc of the network based on the use of repurposed natural gas grids.

“Economically plausible vision for dedicated hydrogen infrastructure exists” Muthmann, Open Grid Europe

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.

A pan-European hydrogen infrastructure could become a reality with the right investment, according to Daniel Muthmann, coordinator of the EHB initiative. “This is a technically and economically plausible vision for a dedicated hydrogen infrastructure,” he says.

The project assumes a future hydrogen production cost of €1-2/kg. Transporting hydrogen over 1,000km would on average cost €ȼ11-21/kg.

Piping pure hydrogen would also be cost-competitive with shipping hydrogen converted to ammonia over distances of up to 6,000km. The network would eventually carry 100pc hydrogen, but blending of hydrogen and natural gas would play a role as a transitional option in the early stages.

Repurposing existing grid

UK transmission system operator the National Grid envisages a phase repurposing of its existing gas network to pump hydrogen, with networks initially connecting four low-carbon industrial clusters.

The UK—which is targeting 5GW of hydrogen production and 40GW of offshore wind by 2030—also hopes to link the network to interconnectors to allow imports and exports with mainland Europe.

€43-81bn – Potential cost of EHB

Elsewhere in Europe, a north-south hydrogen pipeline corridor could be developed in Italy, with imports from north Africa enabled by the repurposing of existing gas pipelines from Tunisia that are currently not in use.

Development of a hydrogen network will depend on the emergence of a regulatory framework and market conditions, with hydrogen competing with natural gas for pipeline capacity, Muthmann added.

“You have to consider infrastructure lead times, so decisions will have to be made relatively quickly,” he says.

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Author: Stuart Penson