The 3,300 km long infrastructure project, which was designed by the transmission system operators Snam S.p.A., TAG GmbH, Gas Connect Austria GmbH and bayernets GmbH, will transport renewable hydrogen from North Africa via Italy and Austria to Germany - a key building block for the European energy transition.
Significant progress in the past year
The SoutH2 Corridor has reached important milestones in the last twelve months:
- Award of PCI and Global Gateway status
- First ministerial conference to set the political course
- Signing of a trilateral and pentalateral political declaration of intent
Building on these successes, the financial, political and regulatory measures required to drive the corridor forward have now been analysed.
Gas Connect Austria with H2 Backbone WAG + Penta West as part of the SoutH2 Corridor
The projects H2 Backbone WAG + Penta West of Gas Connect Austria and H2 Readiness of the TAG Pipeline System of TAG GmbH form the Austrian part of the SoutH2 Corridor. The two Austrian transmission system operators are contributing their many years of experience and valuable expertise to the development of the southern corridor. Gas Connect Austria was represented in Stuttgart by its management, Valerie Hackl and Stefan Wagenhofer, to work on the implementation together with the inter-national partners. In addition to many other work steps, a secretariat spanning all three ministries (Italy, Austria, Germany) will be set up to support the joint work. In addition, co-operation with producers and buyers along the project plan is to be intensified in order to strengthen the value chain. Furthermore, the exchange on the implementation of the gas package will be driven forward.
The next meetings are already planned: The second pentalateral working meeting is scheduled to take place in Algeria in the second quarter, followed by the sixth trilateral working group meeting in Vienna in the third quarter.
Our contribution to Europe's hydrogen future
With the hydrogen infrastructure project H2 Backbone WAG + Penta West, Gas Connect Austria is making a significant contribution to security of supply and decarbonisation:
- Integration of Austria into the European hydrogen network
- Conversion of existing pipelines and construction of new hydrogen infrastructure
- Strengthening industry through sustainable energy supply
Over 50 representatives from regulatory authorities, financial institutions and ministries took part in the forum in Stuttgart. Special thanks go to the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector Baden-Württemberg, the German Energy Agency (dena) and the H2BW platform for organising this forward-looking working meeting.