Gasunie, Fluxys to develop hydrogen network on Belgian-Dutch border

Dutch energy company Gasunie and Belgium-based Fluxys have set out to build a hydrogen supply network spanning the ports of Vlissingen, Terneuzen and Ghent and other European industrial clusters.

PHOTO: From left to right: Fluxys chief executive Pascal De Buck, North Sea Port chief executive Daan Schalck and Gasunie hydrogen business development manager Helmie Botter. Gasunie

The network, which will be one of the first cross-border hydrogen network in Europe, is expected to become operational in 2026, Gasunie says.

Terneuzen, Vlissingen and Ghent merged to form North Sea Port in 2018. The North Sea Port area stretches 60 kilometres from Vlissingen by the North Sea and down into Ghent in Belgium.

Natural gas already flows between Sas van Gent and Zelzate on this waterway. Hydrogen can flow the same way, the companies say.

The project “will enable the hydrogen market to reach maturity and will help to ensure security of supply in north-western Europe," says Gasunie hydrogen business development manager Helmie Botter.