German government wants to build tens of thousands of kilometers of "hydrogen superhighway"

According to the new plan of the German government, hydrogen energy will play a role in all important fields in the future. The new strategy Outlines an action plan to ensure the market is built by 2030.

Germany's previous government proposed the first version of its national hydrogen strategy in 2020. The government now wants to accelerate efforts to build a national hydrogen network and ensure that sufficient hydrogen energy is available in the future with imported supplements. Electrolytic capacity used to produce hydrogen will increase from 5 GW to at least 10 GW by 2030.

As Germany is far from being able to produce enough hydrogen on its own, further import and storage strategies will be pursued. The first version of the national strategy states that by 2027 and 2028, a starting network of more than 1,800 km of retrofitted and new hydrogen pipelines should be created.

The lines will be supported in part by the "Important Projects of Common European Interest" (IPCEI) programme and embedded in a 4,500-kilometre trans-European hydrogen grid. By 2030, all major power generation, import, and storage centers should be connected to relevant customers, and hydrogen and its derivatives will be used especially in industrial applications, heavy commercial vehicles, and increasingly in aviation and shipping.

To ensure that hydrogen can be transported over long distances, Germany's 12 main pipeline operators on July 12 also presented a planned joint "national Hydrogen core network." "Our goal is to remodel as much as possible, not build new." Barbara Fischer, president of the German Transmission System Operator (FNB), said. More than half of the future hydrogen pipeline will be converted from the current natural gas pipeline.

According to current plans, the network will include a total length of 11,200 km of pipelines and is scheduled to be operational by 2032. FNB estimates the cost will be in the billions of euros. The German Federal Ministry of Economics uses the term "hydrogen superhighway" to describe the planned pipeline network. "The hydrogen core network will cover areas in Germany that are currently known to consume and produce large amounts of hydrogen, thereby connecting central locations such as large industrial centers, storage facilities, power plants and import corridors," the Federal Energy Ministry said.

The German Hydrogen core network planned by the German pipeline operator. Credit: Welt

In the as-yet-unplanned second phase, from which more and more local distribution networks will branch out in the future, a comprehensive hydrogen network development plan will be incorporated into the Energy Industry Law by the end of this year.

Since the hydrogen network is largely filled by imports, the German government is already in talks with several large foreign hydrogen suppliers. Large quantities of hydrogen are likely to be delivered through pipelines in Norway and the Netherlands. The green energy hub Wilhelmshaven is already building large infrastructure projects for the delivery of hydrogen derivatives such as ammonia by ship.

Experts are skeptical that there will be enough hydrogen available for multiple uses. However, in the pipeline operator industry, there is optimism: once the infrastructure is in place, it will also attract producers.