Gasunie joins H2Global foundation
By joining the H2Global Foundation, Gasunie is improving the cooperation between public authorities and the private sector.
The Dutch gas infrastructure company Gasunie has joined the German H2Global Foundation, which has been working flat out in driving the market ramp-up of green hydrogen since autumn 2021.
Joining as a foundation member underlines the common European resolve to transform the energy market over the medium and long term. Gasunie will contribute its know-how in the transport, storage and import of green hydrogen as the newest member of the H2Global Foundation.
Gasunie is already developing a hydrogen network called HyPerLink, which connects Denmark and the Netherlands across northern Germany. In addition, Gasunie is cooperating with other companies on the AquaDuctus pipeline project, which will transport up to one million tons of green hydrogen per year directly from the production site in the North Sea to the mainland.
The foundation, which is dynamically gaining in importance, aims to ramp up the market for green hydrogen, thereby contributing to the decarbonisation of the economy and supporting independence from fossil fuels from Russia. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) is funding the future provision of green hydrogen through the H2Global initiative to the tune of €900 million. The BMWK is providing funding to HINT.CO GmbH, a subsidiary of the H2Global Foundation, for its competition-based double auction mechanism to support its role as an intermediary between supply and demand.
Gasunie is the most recent addition to a whole range of prominent European foundation members. Numerous companies have recently committed to the common aims and objectives of the H2Global Foundation. In addition to German companies such as Siemens Energy Global, Thyssenkrupp or Deutsche Bank, European companies such as the mega-port Port of Antwerp-Bruges or the French IPP for renewable energies Total Eren have recently joined the foundation.
The prices for PtX products are significantly higher than the costs of fossil fuels. Despite this imbalance, the most urgent goal of H2Global and all participating companies is to get the market for green hydrogen up and running. For this purpose, an intermediary will auction green hydrogen and derivatives at the lowest possible price and then sells them in Germany and Europe to the highest bidder. The negative difference that is expected to arise can be compensated for by the BMWK funding grant.
Markus Exenberger, H2Global CEO, said, “With numerous upcoming projects revolving around the transport, import and storage of hydrogen, Gasunie features as one of the most important European players in the context of the urgently needed energy transition.”
Han Fennema, CEO of Gasunie, said, “Cooperation throughout the entire hydrogen value chain will be decisive in achieving the required scaling. In addition to transport, storage and import, it will also require local hydrogen production – both on land and at sea.”
