Management summary
Timeline
January
In 2021 and early 2022, Gasunie Deutschland will, as part of Germany’s phasing out of coal, build a natural gas pipeline to the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg, enabling the car manufacturer to cut its carbon emissions by 1.5 megatonnes per year. The impact on the natural surroundings along the 30km stretch of pipeline will be offset as much as possible. Trees felled will be replaced by new greenery. Bird and bat boxes have already been installed. In partnership with the city of Wolfsburg, new bodies of water have been created for amphibians.
February
In the second week of the month, it was remarkably cold in north-western Europe. Below ground, however, gas transport continued as normal. In both the Netherlands and Germany, Gasunie had additional teams on standby to deal with any service disruptions. The gas storage facilities were sufficiently full for Gasunie to be able to handle the significant spike in demand, once again proving just how important these facilities are.
March
Permits for the laying of the first section of the WarmtelinQ pipeline between Vlaardingen and The Hague were available for public consultation. Together with the Zuid-Holland provincial authority and local authorities through whose territories the pipeline will run, Gasunie organised several information sessions for local residents. We engaged with around 300 people at these sessions.
April
The 2030-2050 Comprehensive Infrastructure Survey (II3050) presents the results of the Dutch network operators’ in-depth assessment of the investments needed to achieve climate neutrality. The report, which was published in April, identifies the ‘no regret’ investments, i.e. renewable energy projects that will have to be implemented in all the conceivable scenarios. Both hydrogen storage and the hydrogen backbone fall into this category.
May
We launched a project at our Zuidwending natural gas storage facility that will see us fill an existing borehole - without an underlying cavern - with hydrogen. The idea is to demonstrate that the borehole, pipelines and sealings can also accommodate hydrogen. We are keeping local residents posted on our work and findings.
June
According to advice issued by GTS to the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, the definitive closure of the Groningen gas field can be brought forward to 2023, which is three years earlier than planned. In late June, the state secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy announced that Gasunie has been asked to develop a national infrastructure for hydrogen transport. The aim is for this network to be up and running by 2027 and for 85% of it to be made up of repurposed natural gas pipelines.
Key figures
| First half year 2021 | First half year 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | € 717 mln | € 712 mln |
| EBITDA | € 462 mln | € 492 mln |
| Result after taxation | € 207 mln | € 257 mln |
| Transported volume | 592 TWh | 579 TWh |
| TRFI (as at the end of first half year) | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| Uncontrolled events | - | - |
| Transport disruptions | 4 | - |
| Capital invested | € 9,872 mln | € 9,528 mln |
Foreword by the Executive Board
At the time of publishing this half-year report, the Summer Olympics are about to get started. Host nation Japan is seizing the Games as an opportunity to promote hydrogen, as they intend to become the world’s first hydrogen-based society. In the margins of the event, they will be organising a large range of hydrogen demonstration projects. Even the Olympic flame is powered by hydrogen this year.
Gasunie welcomes these ‘hydrogen games’. With our Missie H2, we are introducing the Netherlands, through our Olympians and Paralympians, to the possibilities of hydrogen in 2021. We are doing that because the conditions in our part of Europe are ideal for the successful use of hydrogen: we have the North Sea as an ideal location for wind power generation and CO2 storage, various ports that can serve as logistics hubs, clusters of industry that want to switch to green molecules for their energy supply, a suitable transport network, and the right underground storage facilities for hydrogen.
All the ingredients for this new renewable energy supply chain are there, and we can make it a success if we work together, as a team.
Over the coming years, Gasunie intends to invest billions of euros in the energy transition in a challenge of Olympic proportions. As an infrastructure operator in the Netherlands and Germany, we have to get started now to make sure that producers and customers of renewable energy will be able to do business with each other on a large scale over the coming decades. Our focus in this context is on sustainable molecules, which will make up 30% to 50% of the energy mix in a climate-neutral society. Green gas, heat and captured and stored CO2 play supporting roles in this context.
The lead role is played by hydrogen transport and storage, which is where an important step was made in late June this year. The Dutch state secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has tasked us with developing a national infrastructure for hydrogen transport. This is a milestone in the energy transition, because it makes the Netherlands Europe’s first country to repurpose its existing natural gas network for hydrogen transport. The creation of a hydrogen network will give developers of hydrogen supply and demand projects the certainty that the required infrastructure will be available.
The lead role is played by hydrogen transport and storage, which is where an important step was made in late June this year. The Dutch state secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has tasked us with developing a national infrastructure for hydrogen transport. This is a milestone in the energy transition, because it makes the Netherlands Europe’s first country to repurpose its existing natural gas network for hydrogen transport. The creation of a hydrogen network will give developers of hydrogen supply and demand projects the certainty that the required infrastructure will be available.
However, there is still a lot to do in the meantime. To stick with the Olympic theme, we are in the middle of a decathlon. On some disciplines, we are still in the starting blocks, while on others the starting shot has just sounded. And on yet other disciplines we are, like a relay runner, ready to hand over the baton to our fellow team members, i.e. the providers and consumers in the new supply chains.
Thanks to our extensive experience with safe and reliable transport, storage and conversion of natural gas, we are able to contribute to the European climate targets for 2030 and 2050. That said, we are fully aware that natural gas will continue to be of vital importance as a transitional fuel over the coming decades. Every day, our people work to ensure undisrupted transport and storage of natural gas, boasting sixty years of knowledge and experience. This is how we pass on the energy.
Han Fennema, Janneke Hermes, Bart Jan Hoevers and Ulco Vermeulen
