• Gas distribution networks in Europe are suitable for hydrogen injection, which will provide a low-cost and flexible avenue to decarbonisation and, at the same time, will address the challenges of the future energy system.
• An additional investment in adapting the existing gas infrastructure would save tens of billions in energy infrastructure development per year, concludes the report.

A new Ready4H2 report, with input from a total of 90 European distributors in 17 countries, shows how gas distribution networks will add a significant value to the future European development of hydrogen. This will enable the ambitious climate goals of the European Union’s Fit-for-55 package to be met.

The report shows that in a future decarbonisation scenario including significant volumes of hydrogen and green methane, investment in the combined power and gas infrastructure is estimated to lead to savings of €41 billion per year compared to a power dominated scenario.

“When looking at the European decarbonisation journey, we are interested in finding the cost-effective way to reach net zero. By exploring and focusing on the conversion of gas distribution networks to hydrogen, we believe to be one step closer to the goal,” said Peter Kristensen, Chairman of Ready4H2.

Incorporating hydrogen in the gas infrastructure allows the growing intermittent renewable production to be integrated.

A future problem for the European power system is the vulnerability to unstable climate patterns, as large volumes of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, are connected to the grid.

Large-scale fast-acting and long-lasting storage capacity is needed to guarantee continued energy supply during cloudy or windless periods. Given the need to have large-scale hydrogen underground storage facilities, the gas infrastructure will play a fundamental role to provide that storage and guarantee a safe and reliable energy supply.

“In the coming decades, the European energy system will become increasingly reliant on non-dispatchable energy sources, with wind and solar capacity forecast rising to nearly 1000 GW. Specific weather conditions can lead to a sustained reduction of wind and solar power generation. This occurs on average several times a year for several consecutive days – much longer than batteries can provide backup for,” explained Peter Kristensen. He then went on that “to ensure continued energy supply during these periods, storage capacity at enormous scale is needed, which local gas infrastructure operators can help to facilitate”.

The report is available in full from the Ready4H2 webstie: www.ready4h2.com

About Ready4H2

Ninety distributors from 17 European countries have set up “Ready4H2” and five of which are Spanish gas distributors (Nedgia, Nortegas, Madrileña Red de Gas, Redexis and Gas Extremadura). The initiative seeks to facilitate the implementation of a European and national legislative framework to develop hydrogen. The aim is to harness the potential of the European gas infrastructure and, therefore, benefit the citizens and compliance of the carbon neutral target set by the EU. This will be achieved by means of sharing the expertise and experience acquired in own projects and with other local stakeholders of the hydrogen value chain in each country.

About Nedgia

The affiliated of the Naturgy group is the leading natural gas distributor in Spain, where it operates in 11 autonomous regions and 1,150 municipalities. It has over 5.4 million supply points that account for 70% of consumers. Its main asset is the more than 54,000 kilometres of networks used today for the secure and efficient energy supply of natural gas and renewable gas (biomethane), and hydrogen in the future. Innovation, proximity and customer service are part of its DNA and characterises its operations.