On the afternoon of Friday 27 October, King Willem-Alexander performed the official kick-off for the construction of the national hydrogen network in the Netherlands. He did so on the construction site of Gasunie subsidiary Hynetwork Services in the port of Rotterdam. There, contractor Visser & Smit Hanab is laying the first part of the national network. The national hydrogen network will cost around 1.5 billion euros. It will connect major industrial regions in the Netherlands with each other and with Germany and Belgium from 2030 onwards. Last year, Gasunie was commissioned by the government to develop the hydrogen network.
After the official launch, King Willem-Alexander was given a tour of the construction site by employees of Gasunie and the contractor. During construction, sustainable, emission-free equipment is used. Among other things, Gasunie is using HyTap. This is a unique technique for safely connecting end-users to the hydrogen pipelines. Afterwards, the king spoke to various organisations involved at home and abroad about making the business sector more sustainable, the role of hydrogen within a sustainable energy system, hydrogen transport and import options.
Sustainability
Hydrogen plays a crucial role in making the energy supply more sustainable. For example, in making industry and heavy transport more sustainable. One of the preconditions for the development of a hydrogen market is the infrastructure for transport and storage. By being the first European country to have its hydrogen infrastructure in place, the Netherlands can be a major hub for renewable energy.
First part hydrogen network
The first section of the hydrogen network is a stretch of more than 30 kilometres. It runs in Rotterdam from the Second Maasvlakte to Pernis. It is expected to be commissioned in 2025. The national network will eventually have a length of 1,200 kilometres. It consists largely of existing natural gas pipelines that will be reused. The network will have connections to large-scale hydrogen production facilities, import terminals in the seaports and companies at home and abroad that will use hydrogen to become more sustainable.
New milestone
Han Fennema, CEO Gasunie: 'Today marks the start of the construction of the Dutch hydrogen network and that fills us with pride. It marks another milestone in the transition to a more sustainable energy supply in the Netherlands and northwest Europe. I would like to thank all our partners for making this possible. Thanks to the great commitment of all involved, we can start the construction phase today.'
Hydrogen ambitions
Rob Jetten, Minister for Climate and Energy: 'The start of the construction of the hydrogen network today is an important milestone. The Netherlands has great hydrogen ambitions: hydrogen is ideally suited to make our industry more sustainable and offers economic opportunities for the Netherlands as an important link in north-western Europe. This national network is indispensable for that. I am proud that we are the first country to start building a national network.'
Source: Gasunie
