German regulator approves €18.9B hydrogen core grid plan

German energy regulator BNetzA has approved plans to gradually build a 9,040-km hydrogen core grid between 2025 and 2032, it said Oct. 22.

The approved grid plan is around 7% shorter than the draft plan, and planned investment costs are slightly lower at €18.9 billion. Around 60% of the new network is based on conversion of gas pipelines to hydrogen.

"The first pipelines will be converted from next year," BNetzA President Klaus Müller said in a statement.

German energy minister Robert Habeck said the core grid is the "prerequisite for the successful ramp-up of hydrogen."

"With the approved core network, we are creating planning security for everyone involved, from hydrogen producers at home and abroad to the operators of power plants and storage facilities and future industrial users," the minister said in a statement.

By 2032, the hydrogen network will have 101 GW of feed-in capacity and 87 GW of feed-out points across Europe's biggest economy. Since a large part of Germany's future hydrogen demand will be covered by imports, 13 border-crossing points are planned.

Initially, mainly conversion pipelines will be put into operation, with BNetzA planning to ensure that only natural gas pipelines that are no longer needed for natural gas transport will be converted to hydrogen, the ministry said.

Biannual reviews

The network roll-out plan will be reviewed every two years by the federal gas and hydrogen grid plans to account for new or changed requirements.

All pipeline projects commissioned from 2028 onward will be reviewed and need to be confirmed again by BNetzA.

Other regulatory and financial aspects have been approved over recent months to allow the gas grid operator to start the implementation of the plan.

"With the hydrogen core network, we are laying the foundation for a new energy system. It offers Germany a historic opportunity to position itself as a pioneer in the hydrogen economy," said the head of German pipeline operator association FNB Gas, Thomas Gössmann.

A recent survey by FNB Gas found that German hydrogen demand would likely reach 191 TWh in 2032. The core grid would allow the transport of 278 TWh climate-neutral hydrogen, it said in its Oct. 21 statement.