Hydrogen Backbone: The Infrastructure Project Powering Industry
In the race to Net Zero, electricity is the easy part. We know how to build wind farms and solar panels. But you cannot run a blast furnace on a battery. You cannot fly a cargo plane on an extension cord.
For the "hard-to-abate" sectors—steel, cement, chemicals, and heavy shipping—the solution is Hydrogen. But hydrogen has a problem: it is difficult to transport. This is where the European Hydrogen Backbone (EHB) comes in.
The Vision: A Continental Super-Grid
The EHB is an initiative by 31 European gas infrastructure operators. Their plan is audacious: to create a dedicated hydrogen transport network spanning 28,000 kilometers by 2030 and expanding to 53,000 km by 2040.
The key innovation? Recycling. Building new pipelines is expensive and faces massive NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) opposition. The EHB plan estimates that 60-75% of the network will consist of repurposed natural gas pipelines. As Europe moves away from methane (natural gas), these steel tubes in the ground become stranded assets. Converting them to carry hydrogen is a win-win.
Connecting Supply and Demand
The geography of renewable energy is uneven.
- Supply: The best solar potential is in the South (Spain, Italy, Greece) and North Africa. The best wind potential is in the North Sea.
- Demand: The industrial heartlands are in the center (Germany's Ruhr valley, Northern Italy, Netherlands).
The backbone acts as the bridge. It envisions five major supply corridors. For example, Corridor A takes green hydrogen produced from Spanish solar, pipes it through France, and delivers it to chemical plants in Germany.
Blue vs. Green: The Color War
The project is not without controversy, centered on the "color" of the hydrogen.
- Green Hydrogen: Made by splitting water with renewable electricity. Zero emissions. Ideally, the network would carry only this.
- Blue Hydrogen: Made from natural gas, with the CO2 captured and stored (CCS).
Environmentalists fear the backbone will be used to prolong the life of the fossil fuel industry by prioritizing Blue Hydrogen. They argue the focus should be purely on Green. However, industry leaders argue that we need Blue Hydrogen as a "bridge fuel" to build up volume before Green Hydrogen becomes cheap enough.
The Cost
The price tag is estimated at €80-143 billion by 2040. While massive, this adds only about €0.11-0.21 per kg to the transport cost of hydrogen, making it economically viable compared to shipping it by boat as ammonia.
If successful, the Hydrogen Backbone will be the circulatory system of the new European economy—invisible, underground, but keeping the industrial heart beating without the carbon cholesterol.