The Netherlands is stepping up initiatives to speed up the development of its domestic hydrogen market after the government spelled out how it will distribute additional subsidies for clean hydrogen projects and gas network operator Gasunie gave the green light to start building the Dutch hydrogen network.

Under the Dutch government’s €35bn ($38.4bn) energy transition fund, €9bn has been earmarked for developing the clean hydrogen market. At the end of June, the government announced it will make available €1bn of this money to large-scale clean electrolyser projects through a tender in 2024, handing out additional subsidies to hydrogen developers on top of the existing SDE++ renewable energy support scheme and the EU’s Important Projects of Common European Interest programme. Another €3.9bn from the energy transition fund will go to developing the clean hydrogen market beyond 2024, the government adds.

“We want to significantly increase hydrogen production within the Netherlands” Jetten, Dutch minister for climate and energy

“We… want to significantly increase hydrogen production within the Netherlands. We are allocating a substantial amount to this, which is in line with the big ambitions that we as a country have for the development of hydrogen,” says Dutch minister for climate and energy Rob Jetten in a statement.

The Netherlands aims to have an installed electrolyser capacity of 4GW by 2030 and wants to double it to 8GW just two years later.

As previously announced, the government will this summer hold its first tender for small-scale electrolysers (50MW or smaller), for which it has set aside around €250mn to help cover investment and operational costs over 7–15 years.

H2 imports

Next to scaling up domestic production, the Netherlands is also pushing forward with plans to import clean hydrogen. In early 2024, it wants to hold its first import tender through the German-led H2Global platform, for which it has set aside €300mn from the energy transition fund.

“Since the national target is very ambitious, and given the pace of the rollout of offshore wind energy and the energy needs for direct electrification, hydrogen imports are crucial,” Jetten wrote in a letter to the Dutch parliament.

The government wants to also encourage industrial demand for clean hydrogen. It is considering making a rising percentage of hydrogen use obligatory among industrial consumers from 1 January 2026, with the first years seen as a testing phase during which industrial consumers can trade hydrogen liabilities and distribute them over a number of years, Jetten says.

H2 network

In parallel, Gasunie announced on Tuesday that it would start construction on the first leg of the Dutch hydrogen network after the summer. This €100mn investment decision has given the go-ahead to build a 30km long hydrogen pipeline between Rotterdam’s Tweede Maasvlakte, where Shell is developing its 200MW Holland Hydrogen 1 electrolyser, and Pernis, home to the Shell refinery that will receive the plant’s green hydrogen, which will replace some of the grey hydrogen it uses. Gasunie says the connection will be operational by 2025, the year also targeted for Holland Hydrogen 1’s opening.

The Dutch hydrogen network largely consists of repurposing existing gas pipelines and will eventually be 1,200km long, connecting to Germany and Belgium.

New association

Separately, the Dutch hydrogen industry has launched a new association, named NLHydrogen, bringing together the industry’s value chain from consumers to producers and importers. It recently appointed Hycc’s managing director, Marcel Galjee, as its first chairman. Hycc, a joint venture between financial services company Macquarie’s Green Investment Group and Dutch chemical company Nobian, is the developer behind the 500MW H2era electrolyser project in the Port of Amsterdam and has a green hydrogen project pipeline of more than 1GW.

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Author: Karolin Schaps