Petrogas and Gasunie investigate reuse of existing North Sea pipelines for hydrogen transport

Gasunie and Petrogas Transportation B.V. (Petrogas) plan to jointly investigate how the Petrogas pipeline installed under the North Sea can be reused for the transport of green hydrogen.

The research focuses on the feasibility of reuse and possible repurposing of the pipeline for the offshore hydrogen project Demo 1. This is a demonstration project initiated by the Ministry of Climate Policy and Green Growth for the construction of a 20 – 50 MW electrolysis plant for the production of green hydrogen in the North Sea and its landfall in the North Sea Canal Area.

The Netherlands has great ambitions when it comes to scaling up and rolling out offshore wind, and it is uniquely positioned to do so. Offshore wind helps make the energy supply sustainable and affordable, which will continue to grow. It also makes the Netherlands and Europe less dependent on energy from other countries and improves the Netherlands’ competitive position.

An offshore hydrogen network is needed to harvest the wind energy that would otherwise be lost if only power cables were used to get this green energy to shore: in this system the wind energy generated is converted into hydrogen immediately on-site and is then brought to shore through offshore pipelines. In addition to the energy system benefits, hydrogen at sea requires less space for cables and electrolysers on land. Moreover, hydrogen transport is very cost-efficient and thus the total cost of the energy infrastructure becomes much lower. An additional advantage is that hydrogen can also be imported from other North Sea countries via these North Sea pipelines.

Gasunie has been preparing for its future role of developing and installing a hydrogen network in the North Sea with a good connection to the Netherlands’ national hydrogen transmission network. In this role, the company will look at how the existing gas infrastructure in the North Sea can be repurposed.

Gasunie is studying the different aspects of repurposing with various parties, including the Dutch Ministry of Climate and Green Growth. Aside from technical feasibility, aspects to be considered include the legal frameworks, economic feasibility, and the effects on nature and the environment. Petrogas is studying various options for reusing its infrastructure, including for the transport of green hydrogen through its existing pipelines.
Reuse of offshore pipelines for hydrogen transport is a relatively new development, one that requires additional research. Gasunie is working in various international research projects with other TSOs, knowledge centres, and standards committees on the development of standards for safe reuse of offshore pipelines. With this collaboration between Gasunie and Petrogas, it can be assessed whether the Petrogas pipeline is suitable for safe reuse for hydrogen transport according to the latest standards.

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