Eleven European gas infrastructure companies from nine EU member states have today unveiled a plan for a dedicated hydrogen transport infrastructure.

Enagás, Energinet, Fluxys Belgium, Gasunie, GRTgaz, NET4GAS, OGE, ONTRAS, Teréga, Snam and Swedegas have revealed new research that shows existing gas infrastructure can be modified to transport hydrogen at an affordable cost.

In a report entitled European Hydrogen Backbone, the companies said they foresee a network gradually emerging from the mid-2020s onwards to an initial 6,800km pipeline network by 2030, connecting ‘hydrogen valleys’.

By 2040, a hydrogen network of 23,000km is expected, 75% of which will consist of converted natural gas pipelines, connected by new pipeline stretches (25%).

Ultimately, two parallel gas transport networks will emerge: a dedicated hydrogen and a dedicated (bio)methane network.

The network can be used for large-scale hydrogen transport over longer distances in an energy-efficient way, also taking into consideration hydrogen imports.

Creating this network has an estimated cost of €27-€64bn, which is relatively limited in the overall context of the European energy transition.

The levelised cost is estimated to be between €0.09-0.17 per kg of hydrogen per 1,000km, allowing hydrogen to be transported cost-efficiently over long distances across Europe.

The relatively wide range in the estimate is mainly due to uncertainties in (location dependent) compressor costs.