Gasunie: Commitments for Hydrogen and Heat are an Important Step for the Climate

• The proposals for energy infrastructure that the Dutch cabinet presented today give a positive impulse to the energy transition.

Gasunie stated this in response to the presentation of the budget plans for 2022 on the annual ‘Prinsjesdag’. In the proposals, the caretaker cabinet announced, among other things, that money would be set aside for subsidies for infrastructure projects in the field of hydrogen and heat.

“The need for a climate-neutral energy supply is beyond dispute. Gasunie can facilitate the development of that energy supply in the Netherlands. Thanks to the focus the Dutch cabinet is now putting in place, we can accelerate our efforts to achieve this and support users to make the switch to alternatives such as hydrogen and residual heat. That is an important step for the climate” responds Gasunie CEO Han Fennema.

This spring, the State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy asked Gasunie to develop the national infrastructure for hydrogen transport . With this ‘hydrogen backbone’, Gasunie will construct a nationwide network that will connect hydrogen supply and demand within and between industrial clusters, storage locations and with other countries. Around 85% of the hydrogen network will be based on repurposed existing natural gas pipelines. Han Fennema: “The first discussions with companies interested in a connection with the hydrogen infrastructure have started. The allocation of 750 million euro by the Dutch caretaker cabinet to limit the risks for Gasunie ensures that we can make the necessary pre-investments in hydrogen infrastructure so that we are ready when industry wants to use hydrogen.”

The caretaker cabinet is also making funds available for the development of the South Holland heat transport network. The use of residual heat from the Rotterdam port area is an important opportunity to make the use of heat in the region more sustainable. Gasunie sees the budget decision as an impulse for the activities in this area: “This brings the positive decision about the construction of this heat transport network closer. We hope to be able to take further decisions later this year.”