GTS publishes its second Investment Plan (IP2022)

On April 1, GTS published its second Investment Plan, the IP2022.

The investment plan describes GTS's investments in the short and long term. The investment plan is assessed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and ACM before GTS  can finalize the plan and forms the basis for the usefulness and necessity of the described investments. On 3 January, GTS submitted the draft IP2022 and both the assessment of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and ACM completed the assessment last week.

The IP2022 describes the developments in the energy market, including an analysis in the form of scenarios up to 2032. Subsequently, a bottleneck analysis of the network is performed and a description is given of the investments in the transport network. Finally, there will be  IP2020.

Developments in the Dutch energy market are moving fast. The closure of the Groningen field is approaching, which means that it is becoming increasingly important to properly safeguard the security of supply of the gas market. Also in the field of the energy transition, more and more steps have been taken to make the contribution of our network more concrete in the coming years.

GTS foresees a growing role for hydrogen as a sustainable energy carrier and feed stock.
Existing natural gas pipelines can be used for hydrogen transport in the future used and thus given a second life. This is attractive for the users of the hydrogen network because less (more expensive) new construction is required. It is also attractive for GTS customers because it will reduce the costs of the remaining natural gas network. 

In the summer of 2021 the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, published the Hyway27 project in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. This report  maps the possible use of existing natural gas pipelines for hydrogen transport the State Secretary of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy has indicated in a letter (in Dutch) to Parliament that she will request Gasunie to take on the development of a national hydrogen network.

The eventual hydrogen network is expected to be largely (about 85%) existing natural gas pipelines. These pipelines are now part of the natural gas network from GTS.

GTS expects an increasing production of green gas in the coming years. In order to be able to accommodate this green gas, GTS will have to make the grid suitable in several places in the coming years. 

GTS draws up a new investment plan every two years. The next draft investment plan, the draft IP2024, is expected to be published on January 2, 2024.

The final investment plan can be found here.