© Gasunie

Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie has filled the first 32km section of the Netherlands’ national hydrogen pipeline network with green hydrogen, marking the first operational segment of the country’s planned hydrogen backbone.

Rotterdam link completed after commissioning

The pipeline runs from the Maasvlakte extension at the Port of Rotterdam to nearby industrial users, including Shell’s Pernis refinery. Gasunie completed the final weld in August last year and said earlier this month that commissioning was nearing completion.

Plug Power supplies imported hydrogen

Around 32 tonnes of green hydrogen were supplied by US-based Plug Power to fill the pipeline. The company is understood to have sourced the hydrogen from Hy2gen’s 6.3MW Atlantis electrolyser project in Lower Saxony, northern Germany, where Plug Power holds exclusive offtake rights.

Logistical challenge highlighted by Gasunie

“It was quite a challenging process,” said Niels van Pagee, manager at Gasunie’s hydrogen subsidiary Hynetwork. He said dozens of hydrogen trailers were transported from northern Germany to a temporary filling site at Maasvlakte under a tight deadline, underscoring the lack of domestic hydrogen supply currently connected to the network.

Backbone ambitions face delays and cost pressure

The completed stretch represents the first firm segment of Gasunie’s planned 1,200km nationwide hydrogen network, intended to link the industrial regions of Zeeland, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and northern Netherlands, and eventually connect with German infrastructure. However, the project has faced repeated delays. In December 2024, Gasunie postponed the broader rollout by three years, citing slower-than-expected hydrogen market development, and said in 2025 that similar challenges continued to hamper progress.

Uncertain outlook for full network build-out

Gasunie has previously indicated that Shell’s 200MW Holland Hydrogen 1 electrolyser in Rotterdam could begin supplying hydrogen into the pipeline this year. But a recent auditors’ report warned the Dutch government that rising projected costs could put the remainder of the hydrogen backbone at risk of not being built, raising questions over whether future production and demand will be sufficient to justify the full network.