Europe’s gas TSOs release draft 10-year network development plan
The draft TYNDP 2022 from the gas TSO association ENTSOG visualises the possibilities for a decarbonised European gas grid with the introduction of hydrogen.
The plan, a requirement of regulation, builds on earlier editions that confirmed that Europe’s gas infrastructure was close to completing the internal energy market and offered opportunities to develop renewable and decarbonised gases at a large scale.
On this basis, and also taking account of the REPowerEU initiative, the plan considers an evolution of the energy infrastructure as necessary to allow significant import and production capacities of renewable and decarbonised gas, and to provide for the demand for new gases like hydrogen and biomethane, which will drive the decarbonisation of the energy system towards the net zero 2050 goal.
The plan introduces for the first time ‘hydrogen infrastructure levels’ with dedicated hydrogen infrastructure projects and also includes import and production capacities of hydrogen and other renewable and decarbonised gases.
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Another first is the collection of projects under four new categories to reveal development trends. These comprise new or repur¬posed infrastructure to carry hydrogen, projects for retrofitting infrastructure to further integrate hydrogen, biomethane development projects and other infrastructure-related projects that facilitate decarbonisation.
Of the total TYNDP 358 investments, 215 of these fall within these four categories, highlighting the progression of energy transition projects since the last TYNDP edition, the document states.
The plan finds that aggregated on the EU level, national policies show a large role for natural gas as a gas energy carrier with very limited evolution of the demand until 2030. After 2030 however, the natural gas demand decreases with the implementation of the strategy of some member states which at the same time see the uptake of renewable gases and hydrogen demand.
Hydrogen demand
In all scenarios, the demand for hydrogen develops as of 2030 and hydrogen becomes the main gas energy carrier in 2050. Today, hydrogen is mainly used as a feedstock for the industry. However, as the demand for clean gaseous energy increases to meet the COP 21 and EU climate and energy targets, hydrogen is mainly used for its energy content and as energy carrier by 2040 and its use as feedstock becomes less dominant over time.
The TYNDP 2022 scenarios also confirm that power-to-gas is a key technology to integrate electricity from variable renewables to a larger scale.
“The Hydrogen and Natural Gas TYNDP 2022, a first of its kind, evaluates the benefit of relevant decarbonised gas projects and shows that the gas system is a resilient, efficient and cost-effective infrastructure,” says Piotr Kuś, ENTSOG General Director.
“The extensive stakeholder engagement and holistic modelling processes have meant that inter-connectivity between methane, biomethane, hydrogen and electricity infrastructures are well captured, starting from the scenarios, through to the system and infrastructure assessments.”
The TYNDP 2022 is open for consultation and stakeholder feedback until 19 May 2023.
