Germany just opened a pipeline that carries hydrogen instead of natural gas — across 130 kilometres of existing infrastructure.
Open Grid Europe has completed the conversion of a decommissioned natural gas pipeline segment in North Rhine-Westphalia into Germany's first dedicated hydrogen transmission pipeline — repurposing existing steel infrastructure that took decades and billions of euros to build, and extending the economic life of the asset by at least 30 years while eliminating the need to construct new hydrogen pipeline from scratch.
The existing natural gas grid is the single most valuable piece of infrastructure for the hydrogen economy that nobody is discussing. Germany has 550,000 kilometres of gas pipeline — more than any other country in Europe — connecting every industrial site, power plant, and population centre in the country. Converting a fraction of this network to hydrogen carriage reduces the capital cost of a national hydrogen economy by hundreds of billions of euros.
The 130-kilometre OGE pilot has demonstrated that existing pipeline steel is compatible with hydrogen at commercial pressure, that leakage rates are within acceptable operational limits, and that compression equipment can be adapted with modifications costing 15-20% of new-build equivalent.
Germany's National Hydrogen Strategy targets a 1,800-kilometre dedicated hydrogen core network operational by 2027, feeding green hydrogen from coastal electrolysers powered by North Sea wind to industrial customers in the Ruhr Valley, Bavaria, and Baden-Württemberg.
The pipeline for the clean energy future already exists. Germany is repurposing it.
Open Grid Europe Hydrogen Pilot Project Report (2024)
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