Amber Grid, the Lithuanian gas transmission system operator participating in the European Hydrogen Backbone initiative, has presented its assessment of what a hydrogen network in Lithuania could look like in 2030-2040. The published shared vision for a European hydrogen network envisages a 28,000 km hydrogen network in Europe by 2030 and a 53,000 km hydrogen network by 2040.
The members of the European Hydrogen Backbone initiative are working towards the objectives of the REPowerEU Communication published by the European Commission, which is to accelerate the development of integrated gas and hydrogen infrastructure across Europe. The vision states that following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, European countries must move away from imported Russian energy and achieve a greater energy independence. This calls for a faster and a more widespread use of clean energy sources, phasing out of Europe's dependence on Russian fossil fuels and thus increasing the resilience of the EU's energy system as a whole by 2030.
According to Nemunas Biknius, CEO of Amber Grid, Lithuania is already seen as a part of a common European hydrogen network, so contributing to the European vision is an important practical step to accelerate the development of the entire hydrogen value chain and to increase energy security and the use of renewable energy sources.
"Recently, Lithuania, together with the Baltic region, has been identified as a potential region for significant renewable energy development. This will create preconditions for the development of the green hydrogen market. Therefore, the adaptation of the developed gas infrastructure to hydrogen and the development of new energy transmission corridors are particularly relevant. We plan that Lithuania's pure hydrogen network, most of which will consist of natural gas pipelines adapted to transport hydrogen, will stimulate the development of green hydrogen production capacity," says Mr Biknius.
Lithuania's emerging renewable electricity generation capacity is expected to exceed the country's demand over the next decade. Some of the surplus renewable electricity will be used to produce pure hydrogen. Lithuania's fertiliser industry is expected to have a high demand for hydrogen from 2030 onwards, and hydrogen grids will be developed primarily to supply this industry. Later on, the network will be expanded by connecting the hydrogen infrastructure to hydrogen networks to be developed in the future in Latvia and Poland. This would create a hydrogen network connecting Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
The vision of the European Hydrogen Backbone shows that five pan-European hydrogen supply and import corridors covering almost 28,000 km of pipelines, connecting industrial clusters, ports and hydrogen valleys to high demand regions and laying the foundations for future large-scale hydrogen supply could emerge by 2030. The implementation of the planned hydrogen transmission network of around 53,000 km by 2040 would require a total investment of €80-143 billion estimated based on the assumption that 60% of natural gas pipelines would be reused and 40% of hydrogen pipelines would be new.
The European Hydrogen Network Vision document is available
here.
