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H2 OH! HYDROGEN • GASUNIE HAS ESTABLISHED MORE PARTNERSHIPS THAT PROMISE TO HELP THE BENELUX REGION DEVELOP AN OPEN-ACCESS HYDROGEN DISTRIBUTION NETWORK DUTCH ENERGY HEAVYWEIGHTS Gasunie, the national gas utility, and Vopak, the world’s leading operator of independent tank storage facilities, are no strangers to working together. They have been partners in the Gate LNG terminal in Rotterdam since 2011 and earlier this year announced plans to establish a hydrogen import terminal, ACE Terminal, on the Maasvlakte in Rotterdam, with the participation of HES International (HCB May 2022, page 18). The two companies are now taking things a step further, as they position themselves to handle the coming energy transition, with the expectation that hydrogen will play a large role in the decarbonised industrial and mobility economy in years to come. At the start of May this year, Gasunie and Vopak signed a cooperation agreement covering the future development of infrastructure projects to facilitate the import of hydrogen into north-west Europe through ports in the Netherlands and Germany. Regional supply of ‘green’ hydrogen, produced with the input of renewable electricity, will not be able to cope with demand if Europe is to meet its targets under the EU Green Deal and the ‘Fit for 55’ plan. Therefore, large-sale imports of hydrogen will be essential – indeed, a number of plans are already in place and the first import streams are expected to start up as early as 2025. A local logistics infrastructure will be crucial to receive and distribute that hydrogen. As independent infrastructure companies, Gasunie and Vopak will focus solely on the development and safe and reliable operation of open-access infrastructure. Logistics infrastructure that is available to all market parties is most effective, both from a cost and environmental footprint perspective. It can further accelerate the import and use of green energy to a wide range of end markets.
HCB MONTHLY | JUNE 2022
HALFWAY THERE “With this agreement, Vopak and Gasunie continue their many years of successful co-operation,” says Ulco Vermeulen, business development director at Gasunie. “Hydrogen is an essential component of the sustainable energy mix of the future. Our joint goal is to enable the international hydrogen value chain by providing the necessary import infrastructure. As a renewable energy infrastructure company, we already function as a linking pin for the energy transition in various public private partnerships in the Netherlands. With this agreement, Vopak and Gasunie can play a role in the transport, storage and import as part of the international hydrogen value chain.” Gasunie believes that, within the Netherlands, most of the hydrogen distribution network will use repurposed
natural gas pipelines. Indeed, in 2018 it converted a 12-km section of gas pipeline in the Zeeuws-Vlaanderen region in 2018, which is now carrying hydrogen between the plants of Dow Benelux and Yara. “The fact that this hydrogen pipeline has now been operating reliably and safely for three years is important,” explains Inge Aardse, managing director of Hynetwork Services. “It is on a regional scale what we will be realising nationally in the Netherlands over the next few years. We are going to use the knowledge and experience we have gained in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen to realise the national backbone for hydrogen.” Near-term plans do not solely involve national distribution in the Netherlands; Gasunie has also signed an agreement with Fluxys on the development of a network stretching across the border into Belgium, initially covering the North Sea Port area between Ghent and Terneuzen. The aim is to have networks in place on both sides of the border by 2026, which can then be connected, creating one of the first cross-border hydrogen networks in Europe. www.gasunie.nl www.fluxys.com www.vopak.com
