Europe has established a "hydrogen backbone network", which can meet 40% of Europe's imported hydrogen demand

Italian, Austrian and German companies have unveiled plans to combine their hydrogen pipeline projects to create a 3,300km hydrogen preparation pipeline, which they say could deliver 40% of Europe's imported hydrogen needs by 2030.

Italy's Snam, Trans Austria Gasleitung(TAG), Gas Connect Austria(GCA) and Germany's bayernets have formed a partnership to develop the so-called Southern Hydrogen Corridor, a hydrogen preparation pipeline connecting North Africa to Central Europe.

The project aims to produce renewable hydrogen in North Africa and southern Europe and transport it to European consumers, and its partner country's Ministry of Energy has announced its support for the project to gain Project of Common Interest (PCI) status.

The pipeline is part of the European Hydrogen backbone network, which aims to ensure security of supply and could facilitate the import of more than four million tonnes of hydrogen from North Africa each year, 40 per cent of the European REPowerEU target.

The project consists of the company's individual PCI projects:

Snam Rete Gas's Italian H2 backbone network

H2 Readiness of the TAG Pipeline

GCA's H2 Backbone WAG and Penta-West

HyPipe Bavaria by bayernets -- The Hydrogen Hub

Each company filed its own PCI application in 2022 under the regulation of the European Commission's Trans-European Network for Energy(TEN-E).

The 2022 Masdar report estimates that Africa could produce 3-6 million tonnes of hydrogen per year, with 2-4 million tonnes expected to be exported annually.

Last December (2022), the proposed H2Med pipeline between France, Spain and Portugal was announced, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying it offered an opportunity to create a "European hydrogen backbone network". Expected to be the "first" major hydrogen pipeline in Europe, the pipeline could transport around two million tonnes of hydrogen a year.

In January this year (2023), Germany announced that it would join the project, after strengthening hydrogen ties with France. Under the REPowerEU plan, Europe aims to import 1 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen in 2030, while producing another 1 million tonnes domestically.