First North Sea certificates for the transport of renewable hydrogen issued

LONDON (ICIS)–The NOGAT and NGT natural gas pipelines in the North Sea have become the first to receive a Certificate of Fitness for the transport of renewable hydrogen at sea, pipeline operator Noordgastransport (NGT) said on 6 October.
The certificate was issued by Bureau Veritas Inspection & Certification, who conducted the survey.
The pipelines are supervised by the Dutch State Supervision of Mines, and the certificate will be valid until 2062.
Ron Hagen, director of NGT, said in the press release that “our NGT pipeline is suitable for the transport of 100% pure green [renewable] hydrogen.”
“The capacity of these pipelines, approximately 12-14GW, will therefore allow us to move faster to large-scale green [renewable] hydrogen production in the North Sea”, Hagen said.
Hans Janssen, director of NOGAT, said that “by making use of existing infrastructure, we are able to make the transition to green [renewable] hydrogen in the North Sea more swiftly. This can be pure hydrogen, but also a temporary mix of natural gas and green [renewable] hydrogen,” in the press release.
The NOGAT pipeline, manage and operated by Neptune Energy, runs for 264km from the F3-FB platform on the Dutch Continental Shelf to the gas processing plant at Den Ehlder, and has a maximum capacity of 32mcm/day, and links with pipelines from the German and Danish sectors via the A6-F3 pipeline and the Tyra West-F3 pipeline, respectively, according to the company.
The NGT pipeline has a length of 470km from the Dutch Continental Shelf to the onshore processing facility at Uithuizen and has a maximum capacity of 42mcm/day, taking the bulk of its gas from the L10-A complex, according to Neptune Energy.
Several European countries have earmarked the North Sea as a potential hub for renewable hydrogen production and storage, with large offshore wind potential as well as salt caverns available for hydrogen storage and gas pipeline infrastructure already in place.