Gas infrastructure companies Gasunie and Thyssengas have announced plans to commission a 400km hydrogen network between Wilhelmshaven and Wesseling by 2028. The firms expect to transport hydrogen produced at the planned green energy hub in Wilhelmshaven—where a 500MW electrolyser is planned—as well as imports from Norway to industrial users near Cologne.

Gasunie and Thyssengas expect to both repurpose existing gas pipelines and construct new hydrogen pipelines for the network.

The northern half of the network will also include storage facilities at the Nuettermoor and Etzel salt caverns, which currently store natural gas. Gasunie is a partner on a study to test hydrogen storage in the caverns running through to next year, which this month successfully completed a leak test.

2028 – Planned startup of hydrogen corridor

The corridor will connect two planned transmission projects, Gasunie’s Hyperlink in the north and Thyssengas’s GetH 2 in the south. Both companies have submitted their respective halves of the network for designation as EU Projects of Common Interest.

Gasunie has also this month applied for PCI status on a potential hydrogen production, transportation and storage network in and surrounding the German North Sea, scheduled to be commissioned by 2030.

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Author: Polly Martin