A milestone for the energy transition: On 22.10.2024, the Federal Network Agency approved the construction of the Germany-wide hydrogen core network. Europe’s largest hydrogen network will be created by 2032, making it an important pillar of the climate-neutral energy system of the future.
Key data of the approved hydrogen core network
The total length of the approved core network is 9,040 km. The core network consists mainly of converted natural gas pipelines (around 60%). The investment costs amount to € 18.9 billion. The feed-in and exit capacities amount to around 101 GW and 87 GW respectively. In addition to the TSO measures, infrastructure from ten DSO core network operators was also approved (468 km).
The core grid meets the targets set out in the EnWG for a Germany-wide, expandable, efficient, climate-friendly and rapidly realizable hydrogen grid by the target year 2032. In order to create more flexibility in the implementation of the projects, the EnWG also provides for the possibility of deferring individual approved core grid measures if certain measures only prove necessary at a later date up to 2037.
The core network puts Germany at the forefront of infrastructure development in Europe. It is the starting signal and the basis for the development of the hydrogen market. The TSOs are thus making an advance payment: the core network is the offer to the market, it comes for the market and continues to develop with it.
The TSOs have already started building the core network. The first pipelines have already been converted to hydrogen this year.
Outlook: What happens next?
On 14 July 2025, the Federal Network Agency set a ramp-up fee of €25/kWh/h/a for 2025. The ramp-up fee enables the refinancing of the development of the hydrogen core network and is intended to balance the amortisation account by 2055.
With the WaKandA and WasABi determinations, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has established the fundamental rules for the marketing and settlement of capacities, as well as for balancing in the hydrogen market, which are to be applied starting January 1, 2028. These regulations are being further developed in the ongoing process of creating common contract standards for grid access through a hydrogen cooperation agreement by the negotiating delegation of the associations BDEW, VKU, and GEODE.
On March 19, 2026, a major milestone was reached: for the first time, companies can reserve transport capacities in the hydrogen core network and secure entry and exit capacities well in advance. The basis for this is the market information package published on March 5, 2026, which describes the cluster structure, the amount of reservable capacities, and the standardized reservation process.
For the market ramp-up to succeed overall, it is important that policymakers create reliable framework conditions for the hydrogen ramp-up on the generation and demand side. Another focus is on the further development of the core network in order to take additional requirements and locations into account as part of integrated network development planning for gas and hydrogen (stage 2). The transformation of the distribution grids is also important for this in order to develop an area-wide hydrogen grid.
The review and further development of the core network, as required by law, takes place every two years as part of the rolling process of network development planning. More information on this can be found on the website of the Coordination Office for Network Development Planning for Gas and Hydrogen (KO.NEP).
