€3 million hydrogen transit pipeline plan awaits government nod
A hydrogen pipeline linking Finland and Germany and passing through South Estonia would boost the country's economy, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications said.
The pipeline is only at the planning stage in Estonia, a phase on its own which will cost around €3 million according to current estimates. National grid distributor Elering would get 50 percent of those funds in EU support.
Monika Korolkov of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications said the hydrogen pipeline is needed for the national economy, adding Elering submitted an application for a special planning process to the ministry in December. The application is awaiting a government decision.
"Most likely, by the end of February or the beginning of March we at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications will be able to say what the government's decision is. At the moment, we are processing it and involving 24 local governments," Korolkov said.
Dubbed the Nordic–Baltic Hydrogen Corridor, the pipeline would carry hydrogen from Finland to Germany, spanning six states in total – including Estonia.
As a hydrogen transit country, this would mean a new onshore pipeline from the north coast to the Latvian border.
The pipeline would be below ground for safety and environmental reasons.
"If energy transit between Finland and Germany runs through Estonia, then we have the opportunity to earn some revenue from it," said Siim Iimre, project manager at Elering.
"In the application for a national special planning process, we see that the most reasonable option would be to install this hydrogen pipeline either in the corridor of an existing power line, alongside an existing natural gas corridor, or as entirely new infrastructure," Iimre went on.
"If such a base transit infrastructure is created, it would later be possible to connect local hydrogen producers and consumers to it," he added.
Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) energy expert Igor Krupenski said while currently the use of hydrogen is not economically viable, "perhaps in five or 10 years the situation will change and we will have so much relatively cheap electricity that it can be converted into hydrogen and used, for example, in German industry.
"If German industry starts to move away from natural gas, then perhaps hydrogen would be a good transition," Krupenski went on.
Iimre said the infrastructure would consist of either one thicker pipe or two thinner ones: In the latter case, one could be maintained in the event of the other pipeline undergoing maintenance.
Around 200–250 kilometers of the hydrogen pipeline's overall 2,500-kilometer span would be in Estonia, Iimre said.
The pipeline would likely either cross into Latvia from Pärnu County, in the southwest, or from Valga County to the east.
The planning phase is expected to take about three years and the pipeline could be completed by 2035.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mirjam Mäekivi
