Page 13 - EurOil Week 30

EurOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT EurOil

Lack of market interest in gas grid

expansion, says EU body

EUROPE MARKET players are not interested in expand- new LNG import capacity, as well as a pipeline
ing the EU’s gas grid, a report published by the carrying gas to Southeast Europe from Israel and
ACER questioned EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Reg- Cyprus, known as EastMed. An enlargement of
whether there was a ulators (ACER) on July 23 concludes. the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) has also been
purpose in repeating Every two years, ACER asks market partic- suggested.
the tests every two ipants to commit to buying extra transmission
years. capacity to identity whether proposed expan- Hydrogen conversion
sions have an economic rationale. There is mounting interest in using Europe’s
“None of the projects fulfilling the criteria existing gas pipeline system to pump hydrogen,
of the process attracted sufficient commit- which Brussels wants to develop as a key energy
ments to pass the economic test that deter- source over the coming decades. Some 11 Euro-
mines their economic viability,” ACER said. pean gas grid operators presented a plan earlier
The result indicates that players are satisfied this month for converting existing gas grids for
with existing capacity. hydrogen at what they said was an affordable
“In view of the Green Deal – aiming at mak- cost.
ing Europe climate neutral by 2050 – it will be The operators project that a hydrogen net-
even more important to base capacity expansion work could be gradually developed starting in
of the gas network on robust identification of the mid-2020s and reach 6,800 km in size by
market needs,” ACER explained. 2030 and 23,000 km by 2040. Around 75% of the
Out of the 55 projects assessed, only five pro- system would consist of converted gas pipelines.
ceeded to the binding stage and none of those Estimated costs range between €27 and 64bn
passed the economic tests. Those five related to ($31 and 73bn), but the paper estimates that
extra transmission capacity between Austria and hydrogen could be transported across Europe at
Germany, Germany and the Netherlands, Aus- an affordable cost of €0.09-0.17 per kg per 1,000
tria and Hungary and Hungary and Slovakia, as km.
well as between Hungary, Slovakia and Austria. ACER published data in mid-July showing
Given the outcome, ACER questioned that most EU gas networks were not yet ready
whether there was a purpose in repeating the for hydrogen. Some 23 national regulators were
tests every two years. polled, and 65% of them reported that their
ACER’s findings also cast doubt on whether transmission systems were not prepared for
a raft of new gas import projects under discus- admixing and injecting hydrogen and other
sion are feasible. These include proposals for green gases into grids. ™

Week 30 30•July•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P13