Signpost for hydrogen infrastructure

15.05.2025

Source: E & M powernews

The "H2vorOrt" initiative has developed a guide to the gas grid area transformation plan. The paper reflects new regulatory requirements.

The next round of planning by German gas distribution system operators for the development of the hydrogen infrastructure has begun. By the end of September, the individual company plans are to be drawn up and the coordination regions defined, according to industry associations. The plans are to be coordinated in the regions by the end of the year, they say.

The "H2vorOrt" initiative has drawn up a guideline on the gas grid transformation plan (GTP) for the new planning rounds. The experts see the GTP 2025 as a "bridge between voluntary sector planning and the future legal framework". In the paper, they also address the requirements of the new EU Internal Gas Market Directive.

Articles 56 and 57 of this directive contain the planning requirements for the development of hydrogen distribution networks and for the hydrogen transformation and decommissioning of natural gas distribution networks. The GTP methodology supports network operators in implementing these requirements. It also provides the data basis for the creation of the revised "Long-term forecast 2.0" of the Gas Cooperation Agreement for the Gas and Hydrogen Network Development Plan.

Focus on "feasibility, coherence and efficiency"

The concept of "regional transformation planning" is new to the GTP. In cooperation with the transmission system operators (TSOs) and neighboring distribution system operators (DSOs), plans are being coordinated in network topological regions for the first time, according to the experts. "Feasibility, coherence and efficiency" in the development of the hydrogen infrastructure should thus be maximized.

"The guidelines specifically prepare the distribution system operators for the new requirements from Brussels - not as downstream implementers, but as active co-designers of the hydrogen infrastructure," says Florian Feller, Chairman of the "H2vorOrt" initiative.

Prof. Gerald Linke describes the GTP 2015 as a "link between the technical reality in the distribution grids and the implementation-oriented approaches of the new European legal framework". The plan "contributes to an integrated energy system that reconciles security of supply, climate targets and economic feasibility", according to the Chairman of the Board of the German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (DVGW).

The Managing Director of the VKU, Ingbert Liebing, is convinced that "in many regions, the energy sector will play a central role in the future supply". "Only if municipal utilities, network operators and local authorities plan together can the transformation of the gas distribution networks and thus also the local energy transition succeed," says Liebing.

The GTP Guideline 2025 is available for download on the website of the "H2vorOrt" initiative.

Author: Manfred Fischer