The European Commission published the final list of "Projects of Common Interest" (PCI) yesterday (28.11.). Several transnational hydrogen infrastructure projects are now to receive the coveted funding status. Among the honored projects are several with German or Austrian participation, including AquaDuctus, Flow - Making Hydrogen Happen and the sub-projects of the SoutH2 corridor between Italy, Austria and Germany.
The PCI list comprises a total of 166 projects. 65 of these are in the field of hydrogen and electrolysers. The EU Commission has made an interactive map available here. The list is currently still in the form of a delegated act.
PCI status gives project operators access to public funding instruments for the implementation of their projects. Therefore, only infrastructure projects that, according to the Hessian transmission system operator (TSO) Gascade, "contribute to the completion of the European internal energy market and the achievement of the European Union's energy and climate policy goals" will receive this status.
Access to European funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), which has now been approved by the Commission, still requires the approval of the European Council and the European Parliament. Another advantage of the final PCI status would be accelerated approval and implementation procedures for the pipeline projects.
AquaDuctus & Flow - making hydrogen happen
Both projects were already part of the draft of the German hydrogen core network presented in mid-November. The PCI status that has now been achieved is an important criterion for remaining part of the planned core network.
Gascade CEO Dr. Christoph von dem Bussche expects the first capacities of the Aquaductus offshore pipeline to be available from 2030. In January, the network operator applied for PCI status for the approximately 400 km long North Sea pipeline. Gascade and its cooperation partner Fluxys want it to become the "linchpin of the European offshore hydrogen infrastructure".
Flow - making hydrogen happen is in turn intended to open up the Baltic Sea region in terms of hydrogen technology and is focusing primarily on conversion. Von dem Bussche states that around 480 kilometers of pipeline from Lubmin on the Baltic Sea coast to the border with the Czech Republic will be converted from natural gas to hydrogen transport by 2025. The joint project of three network operators is designed to cover a total of 1,100 km of hydrogen pipeline.
SoutH2 Corridor
The SoutH2 Corridor is to be 3,300 km long and supply North Africa, Italy, Austria and Germany with cheap green hydrogen from the southern Mediterranean region. Four European TSOs are currently involved in the development: bayernets, Gas Connect Austria (GCA), Trans Austria Gasleitung (TAG) and the Italian company Snam S.p.A. The corridor should be fully operational by 2030. It consists of the following sub-projects, all of which have now been granted PCI status:
- "HyPipe Bavaria - The Hydrogen Hub" from bayernets GmbH
- "H2 Backbone WAG + Penta-West" from Gas Connect Austria GmbH
- "H2 Readiness of the TAG pipeline system" by Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH
- "Italian H2 Backbone" by Snam Rete Gas
The southern hydrogen corridor had already received support from the energy ministries of Italy, Austria and Germany in May. At German-Italian government consultations on November 22, 2023, Germany and Italy also reaffirmed their cooperation to diversify the energy supply and develop new hydrogen compounds.
Pleasure at FNB
Bayernets sees the PCI classification of HyPipe Bavaria as a "milestone". The pipeline construction project sets the course for hydrogen imports to Bavaria and the diversification of the German hydrogen supply as a whole. The project is to be around 300 km long and transport hydrogen from the Burghausen import point on the border between Austria and Bavaria via Munich and Ingolstadt to the north and south-west of Germany. Initial ideas for the project were presented in spring 2022.
GCA and TAG also welcome the PCI evaluation of their sub-projects. TAG CEO Daniele Gamba emphasized that the planned conversion of a 380 km long natural gas pipeline from the Italian-Austrian border to the Austrian-Slovakian border to hydrogen would essentially "only require the construction of new compressor stations". In addition, the pipeline also participates in the planned SunsHyne Corridor and thus represents a connection to the eastern import corridor.
According to the company, the GCA project "H2 Backbone WAG + Penta-West" has been included in the PCI list several times. It aims to supplement the West-Austria-Gas pipeline (WAG) and the Penta-West pipeline (PW) with continuous parallel lines for the transportation of hydrogen by 2030. Over 200 km of new pipeline are to be built and 140 km upgraded. This should enable hydrogen transports between Slovakia and Austria and between Austria and Germany of up to 150 GWh/day.
