Luxembourg-based energy provider the Encevo Group has announced that it is participating in the launch of a pilot project concerning the reallocation of a natural gas network into the cross-border hydrogen transport network in the Greater Region.

In fact, the network operator Creos Deutschland GmbH, a subsidiary of the Encevo Group, has signed a collaboration agreement with GRTgaz SA., a French leader in gas transport, in order to promote the use of hydrogen as a source of and fuel in the Saar-Lor-Lux (Saarland, Lorraine and Luxembourg) region.

The first goal of the mosaHYc (Mosel Saar HYdrogen Conversion) project will be to create infrastructures enabling green hydrogen to be transported to the transport sector, thereby contributing to European decarbonisation objectives while meeting important environmental and social challenges, in particular the question of improving air quality in the Saar-Lor-Lux region.

The objective is to create an 70km-long infrastructure that will allow producers and consumers of hydrogen in the Greater Region to develop business models for the industry and the transport sector. This network, with its strong regional dimension, will contribute to the development of a hydrogen ecosystem in three countries.

As a first step, the partners concerned will examine to what extent two existing pipelines in the Völklingen (Germany), Carling (France), Bouzonville (France) and Perl (Germany) regions are suitable for transporting hydrogen. In the long term, the project paves the way for accelerating the development of an interregional hydrogen market.

The initiators of the project hope to be able to make a final investment decision in 2022.