German Companies Developing Core Hydrogen Pipeline Network
quietus writes:
Germany's energy regulator, the Bundesnetzargentur, has given the go-ahead to a proposed 9,040 km (5617 miles) long network of hydrogen pipelines connecting planned key hydrogen import, production and consumption centra within Germany. The network, proposed by the country's gas transmission system operators, should be ready by 2032, at a cost estimate of 18.9bn.
The approval process was sped up under the 2022 Energiewirtschaftsgesetz (Energy Industry Act), aiming to enhance competition, security of supply and sustainable energy production, with a focus on offshore wind farms. Appendix 2 of this Act arranges for an 'intertemporal cost allocation' mechanism to finance the network mentioned above.
Under this mechanism, all gas network operators will run the same negotiated ramp-up tariffs on entry and exit points of the network, in exchange for state-backed loans and state guarantees to bridge the time until utilisation rates rise and tariff revenues exceed cost.
Countries bordering the North Sea (like Germany), aim to scale offshore wind capacity from under 30 GW to 120 GW by 2030 and 300 GW by 2050. Hydrogen is seen as an effective storage medium for excess energy production here.
While the concept has always been to run DC cables from the offshore wind farms on land, and produce the hydrogen there, a recent opinion piece suggests that it is more efficient to locate the hydrogen production at sea, too -- and transport the produced hydrogen on land by pipeline.
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