“We need another GTS”: what will Europe cost to switch from gas to hydrogen

Alexey Gromov, Principal Director on Energy Studies, and Sergey Kondratiev, Deputy Head of the Economic Department of the Institute for Energy and Finance, commented on the prospects for the development of hydrogen energy in the EU to Gazeta.ru.

The main problem in the implementation of the hydrogen transition program will be the issue of transportation. Two options are acceptable: transportation of fuel in liquefied form or as part of methane-hydrogen mixtures. The second scenario looks the most realistic. However, it is fraught with high costs for the construction of infrastructure, Sergey Kondratiev emphasized.

The high cost of the production of "green" hydrogen will lead to the fact that the European Union will have to pay billions of euros to installers of the new GTS. In turn, the poorer Eastern European countries of the EU will need to allocate subsidies for laying sections of new pipelines, Kondratiev suggested.

GTS modernization and risks of explosions

To transport hydrogen, regular modernization of worn-out sections is needed, Aleksey Gromov emphasized. In this case, the need to build a "backup" of the existing European GTS disappears.

“However, even taking into account the modernization of the GTS, on average, only 10-20% of hydrogen will flow through the pipes. Modern pipelines can pass up to 30-40%, but there are very few such GTS sections in the EU,” Gromov explained.