Belgium has approved 250 million euros in public funds to build a nationwide hydrogen pipeline network to Germany

But the network will not have an operator until 2024.

The Belgian Council of Ministers has approved 250 million euros of public funds for the construction of the hydrogen network. This is part of plans for Belgium's main hydrogen import and transport hub.

In 2022, the Belgian government announced a national hydrogen energy strategy, which aims to import a large amount of hydrogen and its derivatives, a large part of which is planned to be exported to neighboring European countries. Belgium's national hydrogen strategy proposes to invest 300 million euros in public funds to build a pipeline with Germany by 2028. 250 million euros have been invested in the project, but no decision has been made on the use of the remaining 50 million euros.

Belgium has a hydrogen pipeline network of about 570 kilometers, more than a third of the total European network length of 1,600 kilometers. Most of them connect industrial clusters within Belgium, and some extend as far as France and the Netherlands.

Belgium plans to further develop a hydrogen network between the industrial clusters of Ghent, Antwerp, Mons, Charleroi and Lifrage, and to link up with Germany.

Earlier in July 2023, the Belgian parliament approved a regulatory framework for the hydrogen network, with plans to select a hydrogen network operator to oversee the system in early 2024.

In June 2023, Dutch gas network operator Gasunie made a final investment decision on the first section of a 1,200-km hydrogen network spanning the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

Just last week, at the request of the German government, the German gas transmission operator unveiled plans to build 11,000 kilometers of hydrogen pipelines across Germany.

In line with the EU's proposed hydrogen and gas market decarbonisation package, Belgium has said it will de-link the operation of the new hydrogen network from the transmission of other energy carriers, such as electricity and gas.

Existing gas transmission system operator Fluxys is already planning in Belgium and is building new hydrogen or preparing infrastructure for hydrogen. This includes the first section of the pipeline from the port of Zeebrugge to the capital Brussels, which will initially supply fossil gas, which can be converted to hydrogen once there is market demand.