Energinet and Evida tasked with owning and operating Danish hydrogen infrastructure

The Danish government has selected state-owned companies Energinet and Evida to own and operate the backbone of the country’s future hydrogen infrastructure.

On 23 May, the Danish Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities revealed the agreement signed by the government and supporting political parties, providing a roadmap for the Danish transmission system operator Energinet and the national distribution system operator Evida to develop future hydrogen pipeline infrastructure to enable hydrogen flow both within Denmark and for export.

The agreement on ownership and operation of the future Danish hydrogen infrastructure is a follow-up to the agreement on the development and promotion of hydrogen and green fuels signed on 15 March 2022.

It implies that the division of roles between the two state companies on hydrogen infrastructure is similar to the division of roles that exists today for ownership and operation of the electricity and gas infrastructure, the government explained and said it will come up with a proposal for financing the hydrogen infrastructure later this year.

Described as the new milestone in contributing to establishing a Power-to-X (PtX) sector in Denmark, this agreement comes on the heels of the world’s first PtX tender that opened in April this year.

Through the tender, the country has made available DKK 1.25 billion (approximately €167.7 million) in state support for the production of Power-to-X in the form of green hydrogen.

With a new bill on the establishment of so-called direct lines, which entered into force on 1 May to provide better framework conditions for PtX projects in Denmark, the implementation of the PtX agreement from 2022 is well underway, the government said.

In its Power-to-X strategy, published in December 2021, the Danish government pointed out that Denmark had considerable offshore wind resources and the potential to greatly expand its offshore wind capacity, particularly in the North Sea.

The country’s PtX strategy involves using large amounts of electricity from renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen through electrolysis, which can then be further converted to other fuels such as ammonia by using nitrogen from the air, or methanol and jet fuel by using CO2 through carbon capture and utilization (CCU).