Essen (ots) – Germany’s largest gas pipeline operator, the Essen-based company Open Grid Europe (OGE), is pursuing plans to build a kilometer-long hydrogen network.Â
Despite the corona crisis, pipeline operator OGE is pushing ahead with plans for a hydrogen network.
“Up to now we have been able to add up to two percent hydrogen. The next step would be to switch to 100 percent hydrogen directly on certain lines,” said OGE boss Jörg Bergmann of the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ, Monday edition). “Together, the gas transmission system operators in Germany have a network of around 40,000 kilometers. It is realistic to use around 6,000 kilometers of this in the medium term for hydrogen.”
Bergmann explained that using the existing gas pipelines for hydrogen is not a technical problem. “But in order to be able to transport hydrogen on a large scale, we need changes at the level of legislation and regulation, including in the Energy Industry Act,” emphasized the OGE boss. “At the moment we are not allowed to operate a pure hydrogen pipeline. Only admixing in small quantities is permitted. This would hardly be enough if the demand grew strongly.” For example, the industrial group Thyssenkrupp wants to increasingly produce steel based on hydrogen instead of coal in the future.
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