European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) – Map, Corridors & Costs

What Is the European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB)?

Hydrogen has been expected to play a significantly larger role in our energy infrastructure for some time now. Overall, it has not yet come to fruition, with battery electric vehicles (BEVs) making much more progress than hydrogen-based systems.

The same can be said for storing energy, with denser grid networks, battery packs, and other forms of energy storage like pumped hydro having scaled up better than hydrogen.

A key reason is that energy infrastructure needs to be widespread, efficient, and dense to make economic sense. And electric grids were already able to accept more electric vehicles and machinery to replace fossil fuels, while hydrogen needed a brand new infrastructure.

It is, in large part, to solve this problem that a new massive megaproject is being initiated in Europe: the European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) initiative.

This initiative brings together 33 energy infrastructure operators, basically one for each EU country and neighboring countries (it also includes Norway, Switzerland, the UK, and Ukraine).

Source: EHB

The goal is to develop a pan-European infrastructure plan for a dedicated hydrogen transport network, with both hydrogen transport and storage.

Why Europe Needs Hydrogen (Beyond Batteries & Grids)

If batteries and EVs have been so far at the forefront of electrification and replacing fossil fuels, they have some limitations as well.

One is that electricity is very hard to store in large quantities. If we really wanted to save mere days of electricity production at the EU scale, we would need hundreds of times more batteries than are currently installed AND in projects.

Another one is that not all applications of fossil fuels can be easily replaced by electricity. Long-distance shipping requires more dense fuel than batteries can provide, and so does air travel. Several industries also need very intense heat that only natural gas (or hydrogen) can provide, like metallurgy, the production of chemicals, etc.

Matching Production, Storage, and Demand

Because hydrogen is an entirely new product, it cannot rely on the existing infrastructures used to transport oil, gas, or electricity, at least not at a large scale.

This is especially important as the potential sites of production of hydrogen are ideally located close to abundant water supply and renewable energy production sites. These might not be the best locations for the storage of hydrogen, or where the hydrogen consumption is in demand.

Therefore, efficient transport of hydrogen from production to storage, and from storage to consumers, is needed.

How Hydrogen Will Be Moved: Pipelines, Trucks, and Ships

Hydrogen can be transported in two forms: as a compressed gas or a liquid. Liquid hydrogen makes more sense for shipping over long distances or between continents, as it reduces the volume required in a ship.

However, for long-distance transportation over land, the gaseous form is preferred, as liquefaction consumes a significant portion of the energy stored in the hydrogen, making its overall economic viability worse.

For the last segment of transportation, especially for vehicles or smaller industrial needs, transport by truck is likely a good option to refuel local tanks at fuel stations and manufacturing sites.

However, for long distances, the natural, relatively low density of hydrogen gas makes it a much better option to transport it by pipelines.

In that respect, it can be noted that hydrogen is in a similar situation to natural gas, which tends to be significantly more expensive in its LNG form. However, contrary to natural gas, whose availability is linked to geology, hydrogen can virtually be produced anywhere where energy is available, from the sunny weather of Spain to the windy North Sea.

Ultimately, if American LNG proves an alternative to Russian gas for Europe, the only domestic option that is both affordable and suitable for energy storage and industrial needs would be locally produced hydrogen.

EHB Build-Out: 2030 and 2040 Roadmaps

A Pan-European Vision

The ultimate goal of the EHB is to move away from the “hydrogen cluster” approach favored so far, to a global hydrogen network crisscrossing the whole continent. This change is expected to result in €330 billion in savings, enabling the same level of hydrogen production and utilization.

A key factor behind the cost savings is that by allowing for greater connectivity, the European Hydrogen Backbone will reduce the need for storage and redundancy. For example, if production in a windless week is down for the North Sea cluster, production from a solar farm in southern Europe can be sent to the North.

The goal is to produce 20 million tons (Mt) of hydrogen per year, or the equivalent of 665 terawatt-hours (TWh) of energy.

Source: EHB

It should be organized around a few hydrogen sub-corridors:

• A major & dense network centered around the Netherlands and connecting to the North Sea wind farms.
• A French-Spanish block moving north by the Rhone Valley and connecting Paris and the Rhine Valley.
• A Polish-Baltic-Scandinavian connection linking the North of Europe to the rest of the continent.
• An Italian-Austrian line connecting these countries to the German network, and potentially also to North Africa.
• A Greek and Balkan line connecting to the rest of Europe.

Source: EHB

In each of these corridors, a few selected companies will contribute to the building and operation of the European Hydrogen Backbone.

Source: EHB

Overall, the largest demand is forecasted for the central Europe region, followed by the North Sea (UK, Ireland, Norway, Denmark) and France-Spain-Portugal.

Source: EHB

The plan also identifies not just the possible path for hydrogen pipelines, but also the possible natural sites usable for hydrogen storage, be it salt caverns, aquifers, or depleted gas fields (most of them located in France, Spain, Italy, and Germany).

Source: EHB

2030 to 2040

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For 2030, the project envisions the creation of the first structures connecting most European countries together for hydrogen transport, using a mix of new pipelines and repurposed gas pipelines.

The total length of pipelines by 2030 would be 32,616 km (20,266 miles), of which 16,864 km (10,478 miles) would be repurposed.

Source: EHB

By 2040, the goal is to densify this network much further, notably with a dense network being built over Poland, Sweden, the Balkans, and the French east coast, more pipelines inside the UK and connecting to it, and a pipeline crossing through Switzerland.

Source: EHB

The total length of pipelines by 2040 would be 57,662 km (35,829 miles), of which 34,290 km (21,306 miles) would be repurposed.

Both of these estimates are the revised numbers that admit that the usage of natural gas will need to go on longer than initially estimated, as a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Because of these developments and the increased importance of maintaining security of supply, several natural gas pipelines that are currently in operation are to be utilized longer than previously expected, explaining why a large part of the projected growth stems from newly-built hydrogen pipelines.

Beyond European Production

The plan not only considers the production by European countries, but also the abundant resources in renewable energy that could be tapped from their neighbors.

So it also includes a calculation of building an electrolyzer capacity in North Africa of 24 GW, and 8 GW in Ukraine, to be developed by 2030.

Further production and connection could also be considered with other countries, notably for example Turkey, Israel, or even Egypt and the Gulf states.

Import of liquefied hydrogen could also be a possibility, depending on technological innovation reducing hydrogen cost (either lower renewable energy costs or lower hydrogen production costs), and the connection of the European Hydrogen Backbone to most of Europe’s main harbors takes this option into account as well.

Costs: Pipelines vs. Power Lines, Gas, and LNG

Compared To Power Lines

Moving the European energy system from fuel and gas to hydrogen might make a lot of sense from the perspective of fighting climate change and regaining more energy independence from not only Russia, but also the USA.

However, it will only work if it makes sense economically and can compete fairly with other forms of energy supply, including the green alternative of reinforced grids and EVs.

The first part compares the cost of transporting energy with using power lines.

Luckily, hydrogen pipelines, while massive infrastructures, are using less rare materials than power lines and transformers (needing copper), resulting in much lower cost per “TWh” transported, between 2-4x cheaper for new or repurposed (from gas pipeline) hydrogen pipeline compared to overhead power connections.

The footprint is also an important factor for a project of this scale. Hydrogen is here too, more energy dense than power line here, with one pipeline transporting as much as 4x more energy.

Source: EHB

Compared to Gas & LNG

Here, the comparison is a little trickier, as it depends a lot on the price put on climate change and carbon emissions.

Overall, it is likely that natural gas transported by pipeline will be cheaper for now. This is because the transport cost is similar, and hydrogen production still tends to be more costly than natural gas (excluding carbon taxes).

Compared to LNG, the situation is a little less clear, as it requires both a pipeline for inland transportation and regasification facilities to be built in Europe. In addition, the cost of liquefaction facilities in the USA or Qatar, and the energy lost in liquefaction, make this gas more expensive.

So, as long as abundant natural gas is not available by pipelines, realistically only accessible from Russia, an unlikely scenario at this point, the European Hydrogen Backbone makes sense when compared to LNG supply, even without considering carbon emissions.

In addition, most of the money spent on domestic hydrogen production and logistics will be injected into the EU economy, and will help reduce trade deficits driven by energy imports.

Unifying European Energy Markets

A significant impact of the European Energy Backbone will be its economic benefits for renewable energy projects. As the percentage of green energy in the grid rises, the problem of overproduction in periods of low demand is growing.

This can lead to a lot of electricity being produced during windy or sunny periods to end up being wasted, because the local power grid cannot use it at this exact moment.

Large hydrogen generation capacity could help soak up this production surplus locally and then transport it at low cost to an area that is not producing enough at this moment.

This is likely to be especially important for rebalancing demand between South and North of Europe:

• Sunless winter days in the north can absorb the still good solar production from Southern countries.
• Stormy weeks in the north during periods of bad weather can help counterbalance low solar production across the continent.

The corridors connecting regions with abundant renewable energy resources would hereby not only serve for hydrogen imports, but also enhance the integrated energy system by connecting diverse renewable sources, such as offshore wind in the north and Solar PV in the south.

The same can be said about the imbalance of green energy production and energy demand between summer and winter.

In general, summer sees larger renewable energy production, especially due to solar, while energy consumption increases in winter, with darker days, especially for heating purposes in northern Europe.

As hydrogen is much more energy efficient when directly burned than converted back into electricity, storing surplus solar in summer in the form of hydrogen, and then burning it in winter for heating, will help reduce the issue with keeping natural gas demand low in winter, and using renewables instead.

So overall, an effect of the European Hydrogen Backbone could also be to make renewable projects more profitable, even as they reach an ever-increasing percentage of total energy supply, which otherwise would increase the wasted capacity.

What Europe Must Do Now (Permitting, Financing, Integration)

The reports by the EHB emphasize the need for European decision-makers to act swiftly in implementing this project.

This is in large part because the 2-3 years of construction of a hydrogen project is actually smaller than the complex 4-year-long process of getting all the design and permitting done.

Source: EHB

For this reason, the EHB is proposing a few key actions that European countries can implement as soon as possible:

• By making regulations clearer, fostering quicker development of new and repurposed hydrogen facilities.
• Simplify and shorten planning and permitting procedures.
• Facilitating the integration of hydrogen, natural gas, and electricity infrastructures.
• Unlocking financial resources through increasing regional regulators’ flexibility and eventual state-backed loans.

Conclusion

The European Hydrogen Backbone is perhaps the most ambitious European project regarding energy security and the green transition to date.

Uniquely, it aims to integrate the diverse energy infrastructure of European countries into a unified vision, rather than the so-far prevalent piecemeal approach of connecting separate countries’ green initiatives.

What might be slowing down the project compared to its stated goal is the difficulty in coordinating such a project between no less than 33 countries. This can be especially challenging if some key countries fail to fulfill their role effectively, with France, Germany, and Poland being the major connectors between all five hydrogen corridors being built across Europe, and the most crucial due to their geographical significance.

Financing will also potentially be a roadblock, as the European region is experiencing prolonged economic stagnation and redirecting state budgets toward not only energy independence but also military spending.

Investing in a European Hydrogen Backbone Innovator

Engie / NaTran (ENGI.PA)

Formerly known as GRTgaz, and today rebranded as NaTran to illustrate its commitment to move beyond natural gas transportation, the company is part of the French energy giant Engie, active in electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy, district energy, and the petroleum industry, and owns 60.8% of NaTran.

GRTgas/NaTran is involved with 3 out of 5 of the corridors of the European Hydrogen Backbone (Western Europe, North Sea, South & Central Europe excluding Poland).

Overall, NaTran directly operates 32,500 km of high-pressure pipelines in France as well as 14 underground storage units and 4 LNG terminals located on the French seaboard.

Source: NaTran

In total, the company employs 3,854 people and transported 588 TWh of gas in 2024.

So NaTran has extensive experience in handling gas, and also has two subsidiaries outside of France:

• Elengy, the European leader in LNG terminal services,
• NaTran Deutschland, the operator of the MEGAL transmission network connecting the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, and France.

The core of NaTran’s contribution to the EHB will be H2Med, the transnational European hydrogen pipeline corridor connecting Portugal and Spain to France. It will be able to transport around two million tonnes of hydrogen to France each year, or 10% of the European Union’s estimated hydrogen needs.

Besides hydrogen, NaTran is also pushing for other alternative biogas solutions, including production from wastes, for example, biogas, pyrogasification, hydrothermal gasification, and e-methane production ( from renewable hydrogen and recycled CO2).

The larger Engie group, formerly known as GDF Suez, is an energy giant and one of the top 10 publicly listed French companies, ranked by turnover. The group is the result of the merger of GDF (“Gas De France” – French Gas) and Suez SA (involved in water supply and treatment, waste management, and energy) in 2006, making it, at the time, the second largest utility company in the world.

Since the merger, Engie acquired other utilities companies like  International Power (with activities in ) to form Engie Energy International, the French solar energy company Solairedirect, the Houston-based battery storage company, Broad Reach Power, as well as 90% of Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG), Brazil’s largest natural gas transmission system owner in 2019.

Source: Engie

With the expansion of NaTran into hydrogen & its key role in the European Hydrogen Backbone project, and the acquisitions in the past decade, Engie is a natural gas and power utility company firmly embracing the energy transition, and turning into not only a French but also an international leader in low-carbon forms of energy, including biogas, hydrogen, and nuclear.