Press releases
23.07.2024
ONTRAS projects anchored in the hydrogen core network: Another milestone in the development of the H2 network in Central Germany
ONTRAS is starting with around 600 kilometers of pipelines for the hydrogen core network, thus laying the foundation for the development of the ONTRAS H2 starter network in eastern Germany.
With the application for a hydrogen core network, which the transmission system operators submitted to the Federal Network Agency on 22.07.2024, a central milestone on the way to a Germany-wide H2 transport infrastructure has been reached. ONTRAS Gastransport GmbH (ONTRAS) has contributed its H2 pipeline projects to the core network, thus creating the conditions for the development of the hydrogen economy in eastern Germany.
In a first step, around 600 kilometers of hydrogen transport pipelines are to be implemented in central Germany. Around 80 percent of these will be created by converting existing gas pipelines, while around 20 percent will be newly built. As the responsible company, ONTRAS will initially connect the Leipzig region with the Central German chemical triangle, the industrial centers in Saxony-Anhalt and Lower Saxony, the Berlin area and the Meissen industrial arc.
“With the first sustainable and strategically convincing pipeline projects, we are creating the basis for the development of the ONTRAS H2 starter network. As part of the German hydrogen core network, we are thus making a substantial contribution to the success of the hydrogen ramp-up in eastern Germany,” says Gunar Schmidt, ONTRAS Managing Director Operations and Security.
The core network is the beginning. Integrated gas/hydrogen NDP will enable further grid expansion.
The development of the Germany-wide core network is a major and pioneering infrastructure project that ONTRAS has fully supported and helped to shape from the very beginning. “We are convinced that with our ONTRAS H2 starter grid as part of the core grid, we will provide a necessary prerequisite for the decarbonization of industry and the economy in eastern and central Germany,” says Ralph Bahke, ONTRAS Managing Director of Steering and Development. “The core network is the first important step in the development of the German hydrogen infrastructure - which will then move on to the regular process of integrated network development planning for gas and hydrogen infrastructure. As part of the NEP, infrastructure requirements will be determined more and more concretely and reliably, so that we will gradually see a more solid basis for the implementation of further pipeline projects.”
“With this investment decision, we are taking a major step towards the future of hydrogen,” says Hans-Joachim Polk, Chief Infrastructure & Technology Officer at VNG AG and Chairman of the ONTRAS Supervisory Board. “The important thing is that once the application has been approved by the Federal Network Agency, ONTRAS, as the responsible company, can start implementing the pipeline projects from the Central German region. I am convinced that the H2 grid will be implemented in a future-proof manner thanks to the technical expertise and high level of commitment of the team.”