Last year saw the following developments:  

• Energinet and Evida received political permission to develop hydrogen infrastructure and our respective roles with respect to transmission and distribution were decided.
• Based on our feasibility study, Energinet’s application to initiate a maturation phase for a "Danish Backbone West” in Jutland was approved by the Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities.
• Three workshops were completed to collect input from the market about user commitment, tariff design, and system design and balancing (and a fourth one about hydrogen quality and grid connection is scheduled in January 2024).
• Energinet and Gasunie signed an updated collaboration agreement formalizing our joint efforts in realizing a cross border hydrogen connection between Denmark and Germany.
• Hydrogen infrastructure between Denmark and Germany was included in the European Commission’s sixth PCI/PMI list.

Upcoming activities in 2024: 

A key milestone will be a political agreement about the financing of Danish hydrogen infrastructure. Energinet notes three key elements in relation this: Firstly, the political agreement from May 2023 states that approval of the construction of hydrogen infrastructure requires concrete, long-term market demand and willingness-to-pay from future system users. Secondly, in December 2023, the Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities expressed to Finans (news outlet) that the state should be prepared to bear some of the risk associated with establishing hydrogen infrastructure. Thirdly, Energinet fully understands the need for clarity about Danish Backbone West in relation to the offshore wind tenders scheduled in September 2024.  

In order to be prepared for a scenario in which government involvement (including financing) is contingent on some level of binding user commitment, Energinet is preparing a model and timeline for collecting such user commitments before the offshore wind tenders in autumn 2024, which we expect to publish for comments end-January. Energinet will of course be responsive to political developments as they arise and adjust accordingly. For the sake of completeness, we also note that workstreams (e.g., technical) are ongoing, and updates about these will be shared with the market when relevant.