The European Union (EU) set ambitious targets for its energy sector and decarbonization through increasing production from renewable sources and the conversion of energy into hydrogen. The EU drew up a Hydrogen Strategy for the next twenty years (2030-2050) concerning the entire supply chain: production, storage, transportation and end use.
European targets for hydrogen have been implemented unevenly by countries, which started experiments for the transportation of hydrogen-natural gas (H2NG) mixture mostly at a local level. The misalignment in the experiments may not lead to shared quality parameters (e.g. Wobbe index and calorific value) within the framework of a supranational regulation.
This document reports a bibliographic survey aimed at monitoring the results of ongoing European activities for the transportation of H2NG or pure hydrogen, and at supporting a regulatory proposal in the appropriate European fora.
Based on the results obtained and the surveys carried out by European bodies, a vision for the hydrogen transportation was illustrated, which develops on two very distinct time horizons:
• the short-term vision (2030), which has clear objectives and consists of a low hydrogen level injection into the existing natural gas infrastructure, and
• the long-term vision (2050), which sets diversified goals. In fact, some European countries are trying to inject high levels of hydrogen mixed with natural gas into existing gas infrastructures following their conversion; others countries are instead considering the injection of pure hydrogen into new infrastructures to be built from scratch, which they deem cheaper.
In this very varied framework, two phases can be identified in relation to regulatory development:
• a short-term phase of adaptation of the current regulatory framework on gas transportation for the H2NG mixture, through a review of the identified technical parameters (without prejudice to the principles on which the gas market legislation and its transport in the European infrastructure are based);
• a long-term phase of creating a new regulatory framework for the transportation of (high levels of) hydrogen, which promotes market development and ensures the adoption of the principles on which gas market regulations are based.
On the basis of these considerations, in the conclusions, a questionnaire is proposed to be submitted to European experts in the next three years of research, in order to carry out interviews aimed at a comparison with the activities underway in Italy.