Gascade and Fluxys have applied to the European Commission for Project of Common Interest (PCI) status for the AquaDuctus project, marking a significant step forward in their plans for an offshore pipeline for green hydrogen in the North Sea.
A comprehensive feasibility study for the project has been completed. The study examined and confirmed the technical and planning feasibility of all project phases. Commercial aspects, marketing potential, pricing, and regulatory design options were also analyzed.
The offshore pipeline, which will be over 400 km long when completed, will become a linchpin of Germany’s and Europe’s future offshore hydrogen infrastructure
explains Gascade Managing Director Christoph von dem Bussche.
The pipeline will collect hydrogen from multiple production sites while offering the potential to link up with other international hydrogen flows through the North Sea.
Hydrogen will be taken to the German coast via the offshore pipeline and fed into the onshore hydrogen network there. In this way, AquaDuctus will provide large-scale offshore hydrogen infrastructure in the German North Sea for hydrogen to be imported into Germany.
The first step of the project will see the SEN-1 hydrogen wind farm connected to AquaDuctus, with flows to start in 2030. In the future, wind farms further offshore in Germany’s exclusive economic zone may be linked up as well as hydrogen infrastructure operated by other North Sea countries.
By 2035, the offshore pipeline is to develop into a main hydrogen corridor carrying up to one million tonnes of hydrogen a year into Germany.
Based on the gas and hydrogen package currently being negotiated at the European level, the two long-standing transmission system operators plan the AquaDuctus offshore pipeline as a regulated open-access infrastructure available to all future operators of hydrogen wind farms, thereby strengthening the security of supply in the future.
We firmly believe that the AquaDuctus offshore pipeline will be a key element of Europe’s future energy supply picture and a major advance in the drive towards climate neutrality
stated says Fluxys Managing Director and CEO Pascal De Buck.
Studies identify up to 100 GW of hydrogen production potential in the German and European North Sea and view an integrated European offshore pipeline network as the ideal transport solution.
