Extending the European Hydrogen Backbone A EUROPEAN HYDROGEN INFRASTRUCTURE VISION COVERING 21 COUNTRIES APRIL 2021 Creos, DESFA, Elering, Enagás, Energinet, Eustream, FGSZ, Fluxys Belgium, Gasgrid Finland, Gasunie, GAZ-SYSTEM, GCA, GNI, GRTgaz, National Grid, NET4GAS, Nordion Energi, OGE, ONTRAS, Plinovodi, Snam, TAG, Teréga Table of contents Executive summary 3 1. Introduction 5 2. Gradual creation of a dedicated hydrogen infrastructure 6 2.1. Connecting industrial clusters to an emerging infrastructure in 2030 6 2.2. Growing network by 2035 covers more countries and enables imports 8 2.3. Mature infrastructure stretching towards all directions by 2040 11 3. Updated cost of an expanded European Hydrogen Backbone 14 Appendix A. Updated costs 17 Appendix B. Country-specific developments 19 Imprint Supported by: Date: Guidehouse April 2021 Contact: Picture credits: Guidehouse Title motif based on a map of ENTSOG Stadsplateau 15, 3521 AZ Utrecht (see https://transparency.entsog.eu/) Authors: The Netherlands Jaro Jens, Anthony Wang, Kees van der Leun, +31 30 662 3300 Design: Daan Peters, Maud Buseman guidehouse.com Meike Naumann Visuelle Kommunikation 2 / EXTENDING THE EUROPEAN HYDROGEN BACKBONE Last year, eleven gas infrastructure companies published a vision of a European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB), a dedicated hydrogen pipeline transport network spanning ten European countries. That report sparked a debate on the role that a hydrogen network can play in the future European energy system. The role of hydrogen in enabling climate neutrality is widely acknowledged, as is the need for hydrogen pipeline Executive transport. This report presents an updated and extended EHB vision, now involving 23 gas infrastructure companies from 21 countries. It presents updated hydrogen summary infrastructure maps for 2030, 2035 and 2040 with a dedicated hydrogen pipeline transport network largely based on repurposed existing gas infrastructure. By 2030, the EHB could consist of an initial 11,600 km pipeline network, connecting emerging hydrogen valleys. The hydrogen infrastructure can then grow to become a pan-European network, with a length of 39,700 km by 2040. Further network development can be expected after 2040. In addition, the maps This report presents an updated show possible additional routes that could emerge, including potential offshore and extended EHB vision, now interconnectors and pipelines in regions outside the area where the EHB members involving 23 gas infrastructure are active. The proposed expanded pan-European hydrogen backbone can further companies from 21 countries. support the integration of renewable and clean energy sources in regions that were not yet included in the initial European Hydrogen Backbone plan as published in 2020. These include Finland, Estonia, large parts of central and eastern Europe, Greece, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. FIGURE 1 Mature European Hydrogen Backbone can be created by 2040 H2 pipelines by conversion of existing natural gas pipelines (repurposed) Newly constructed H2 pipelines Export/Import H2 pipelines (repurposed) Subsea H2 pipelines (repurposed or new) Helsinki Countries within scope of study Tallinn Countries beyond scope of study Stockholm Edinburgh Göteborg Potential H2 storage: Salt cavern Copenhagen Potential H2 storage: Aquifer Dublin Potential H storage: Depleted field 2 Manchester Gdansk Cork Hamburg Energy island for offshore H2 production Amsterdam City, for orientation purposes Berlin London Warsaw Cologne Leipzig Frankfurt Prague Krakow Paris Vienna Munich Bratislava Budapest Lyon Bordeaux Milan Ljubljana Bilbao Venice Marseille Madrid Barcelona Rome Valencia Tarifa Almería Palermo Athens European Hydrogen Backbone initiative 2021, supported by Guidehouse 3 / EXTENDING THE EUROPEAN HYDROGEN BACKBONE The European Hydrogen Backbone creates an opportunity to accelerate decarbonisation of the energy and industrial sectors whilst ensuring energy system resilience, increased energy independence and security of supply across Europe. Such a vision can be achieved in a cost-effective manner, but it requires close collaboration between EU Member States and neighbouring countries and a stable, supportive, and adaptive regulatory framework. In addition to maps showing the possible future topology of hydrogen infrastructure, the report also provides an updated breakdown of repurposed versus new pipelines and estimates of total investment costs up to 2040. The 39,700 km European Hydrogen Backbone for 2040 as proposed in this report requires an estimated total investment of €43-81 billion, based on using 69% of repurposed natural gas pipelines and 31% new pipeline stretches. This cost is relatively limited in the overall context of the European energy transition. The investment per kilometre of pipeline is lower compared to the network investment costs as estimated in the initial European Hydrogen Backbone plan. While the initial plan only included cost estimates for pipelines with a diameter of 48 inch, this update takes into account that a large part of today’s natural gas infrastructure and of tomorrow’s hydrogen infrastructure consists of smaller 24- or 36-inch pipelines. Smaller pipelines are cheaper to repurpose leading to lower investment costs overall. However, the operating costs to transport hydrogen over 1,000 km EHB is an attractive and are higher for smaller diameter pipelines compared to bigger diameter pipelines, cost-effective option for which raises the levelised transportation costs for the entire EHB to €0.11-0.21 per long-distance transportation kg of hydrogen. This is slightly higher than last year’s estimate of €0.09 to €0.17, of hydrogen but confirms that the EHB is an attractive and cost-effective option for long-distance transportation of hydrogen, taking into account an estimated future production cost of €1.00-2.00 per kg of hydrogen. The proposed infrastructure pathway up to 2040 shows the vision of 23 European gas TSOs, based on national analyses of availability of existing natural gas infrastructure, future natural gas market developments, and future hydrogen market developments. Nonetheless, it is important to note that the eventual infrastructure solution will be highly dependent on future supply and demand dynamics of the integrated energy system, including natural gas, hydrogen, electricity, and heat. The real development of hydrogen supply and demand and the increasing integration of the energy system may lead to alternative or additional routes compared to the ones described in this paper, and the timeline of some of the 2030, 2035 and 2040 proposed routes may be shifted forward or backward in time. The EHB initiative is looking forward to discussing its vision with stakeholders including policy makers, companies and initiatives along the hydrogen value chain. 4 / EXTENDING THE EUROPEAN HYDROGEN BACKBONE The European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) initiative is a group of European gas Transmission System Operators (TSOs) that has drafted a proposal for a dedicated hydrogen pipeline infrastructure, to a large extent based on repurposed natural gas pipelines. The initiative published a vision paper in July 2020, with maps covering nine EU Member States plus Switzerland, home to the eleven TSOs participating at 1. Introduction that time. Since then, the EHB initiative has grown to 23 European gas TSOs with gas networks covering 19 EU Member States plus the United Kingdom and Switzerland. This report contains a geographically extended vision for a dedicated hydrogen infrastructure stretching across these 21 European countries. This updated European Hydrogen Backbone represents a vision of the growing initiative, with extended hydrogen infrastructure maps for 2030, 2035, and 2040. The report also provides an updated breakdown of repurposed versus new pipelines and estimates of total investment costs. As in the last report, this paper includes the locations of possible hydrogen storage locations. The amount of storage that would be required in the future depends on a number of factors and is not further analysed in this paper. Neither does this paper analyse the cost of hydrogen storage. The suggested pathway for the creation of dedicated hydrogen backbone infrastructure is informed by studies¹ commissioned by the Gas for Climate consortium in 2019 and 2020 which showed a large future role for hydrogen in a decarbonised European energy system and a gradually declining role for natural gas, partially replaced by biomethane. Natural gas remains important to ensure security of supply during the 2020s and 2030s, yet increasingly, gas infrastructure could be freed-up for the transportation of hydrogen as over time, hydrogen will become a competitive commodity and energy carrier with a key role in the future energy system. Based on these insights, the EHB initiative has created a possible and reasonable scenario on how hydrogen infrastructure in Europe may be created that would be technically viable and achievable. The EHB vision is based on the abovementioned Gas for Climate studies, national hydrogen strategies and planning processes as well as an evaluation of announced projects on hydrogen supply and demand across Europe, partly through a series of hydrogen supply chain stakeholder interviews. The European Hydrogen Backbone vision starts from the current status quo yet assumes a high ambition level for future climate change policies. This report presents a vision rather than a final proposal based on detailed network planning. The timelines for the scale up