King Willem-Alexanderperformed the starting ceremony for the construction of the national hydrogen network in the Netherlands last Friday afternoon. He did so at the construction site of Gasunie subsidiary Hynetwork Services in the Port of Rotterdam, where contractor Visser & Smit Hanab is laying the first part of the national network. The national hydrogen network, which will cost about 1.5 billion euros, will connect the major industrial regions in the Netherlands with each other and with Germany and Belgium starting in 2030. Last year, Gasunie was commissioned by the government to develop the hydrogen network.
After the official launch, King Willem-Alexander was given a tour of the construction site by employees of Gasunie and the contractor. During the construction work, sustainable, emission-free equipment will be used and Gasunie will make use of HyTap, a unique technique for safely connecting end-users to the hydrogen pipelines. Afterwards, the king spoke to various organizations from the Netherlands and abroad about making the business community more sustainable, the role of hydrogen within a sustainable energy system, the transport of hydrogen and about import options.
Hydrogen plays a crucial role in making energy supplies more sustainable. For example, in making industry and heavy transport more sustainable. One of the preconditions for the development of a hydrogen market is the infrastructure for transport and storage. By being the first European country to have the infrastructure for hydrogen in place, the Netherlands can be an important hub for sustainable energy.
1,200 kilometers
The first part of the hydrogen network, a stretch of more than 30 kilometers, runs in Rotterdam from the Second Maasvlakte to Pernis, and is expected to be ready for operation in 2025. The nationwide network will eventually have a length of 1,200 kilometers and consist largely of existing natural gas pipelines that will be reused. The network will have connections to large-scale hydrogen production facilities, import terminals at the seaports and companies at home and abroad that will use hydrogen to become more sustainable.
"Today marks the start of the construction of the Dutch hydrogen network, which fills us with pride," said Han Fennema, CEO of Gasunie. "It marks another milestone in the transition to a more sustainable energy supply in the Netherlands and northwest Europe. I would like to thank all our partners for making this possible. Thanks to the great commitment of all involved, we can start the construction phase today."
Rob Jetten, Minister of Climate and Energy spoke of an "important milestone. The Netherlands has great hydrogen ambitions: hydrogen is ideally suited to make our industry more sustainable and offers economic opportunities for the Netherlands as an important link in Northwest Europe. This national network is indispensable for that. I am proud that we are the first country to start building a national network."
