Noordgastransport (NGT) and NOGAT are the first offshore pipeline owners to receive the Certificate of Suitability for transporting green hydrogen through their existing pipelines in the North Sea. This means that these pipelines can be converted relatively easily for transporting hydrogen from the North Sea.
The certification is important news for Den Helder, because one of the systems – that of NOGAT – will come ashore here. The desire to reuse the existing pipeline for hydrogen in the long term plays an important role in the hydrogen ambitions of North Holland North. But whether this would actually be feasible was not entirely certain until now. The certification – which was carried out by Bureau Veritas – confirms that both systems are suitable for this.
Reusing an existing pipeline system is many times cheaper than laying a new pipe. The costs amount to at most 10% of laying a new pipeline. In addition, transporting energy through pipes (hydrogen) is preferable to transporting it through cables (electricity), because much more energy can be transported simultaneously. One large pipeline can carry 10 to 20 gigawatts, the same as 5 to 10 expensive power cables. The hydrogen capacity of the NOGAT pipeline is estimated at 10 to 12 gigawatts, that of NGT (Eemshaven) at 10 to 14 gigawatts.
The verification covered a total of 317 kilometres of NGT pipelines and 266 kilometres of NOGAT pipelines. Both systems are connected to natural gas fields that (once they have been depleted) can be relatively easily reused for the storage of hydrogen. NOGAT and NGT are currently working on developing scenarios. In one scenario, the NGT pipeline will be cleared for hydrogen before 2030. The natural gas production will then be diverted via NOGAT. But the reverse scenario – hydrogen via NOGAT and natural gas via NGT – is also on the table.
Frank Brandsen of New Energy Coalition (one of the partners in Waterstofnhn.nl) believes that the possibility of reusing the pipelines for hydrogen will give a significant boost to the production of hydrogen at sea. In a response: “The energy generated in the new, remote wind farms in the North Sea can come to the land in the form of hydrogen, instead of electricity. This allows Den Helder to play an important and effective role in the transit of hydrogen to the hydrogen backbone.”
