The prospective 540km pipeline will bring hydrogen from Greece to Bulgaria. Credit: Belish vis Shutterstock.

The operator of Greece’s national grid has announced its intention to build a hydrogen pipeline connecting the country to neighbouring Bulgaria.

The proposed 540km pipeline, linking hydrogen centres in Greece and Bulgaria, will cost €1bn ($1.12bn).

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Greek grid operator DESFA stated that the plans for the project have already passed an initial technical assessment from the European Commission. This will in turn make the planned pipeline eligible to become an EU Project of Common Interest as a cross border infrastructure project. In turn, this would allow it to access funding and accelerated permitting procedures.

Maria Rita Galli, DESFA CEO, said that the project “puts Greece, Spain and Italy at the same level with respect to the potential for the future role that these Mediterranean countries will play in providing infrastructure for hydrogen”.

This proposal could link into long-standing plans across Europe for an integrated hydrogen pipeline network to span the EU. In July 2020, 11 gas infrastructure operators from nine EU countries including Germany, France, Italy and Spain unveiled plans for the “European Hydrogen Backbone”. The plan will see major hydrogen centres in these countries connected in order to transport more than 1,130 terawatt-hours (TWh) of hydrogen per year to meet European energy demand.

The hydrogen pipeline scheme was jointly proposed alongside Bulgaria. Since December 2021, DESFA has partnered with Bulgaria’s grid operator Bulgartransgaz. Further, DESFA already operates the 512km DESFA Main Transmission Pipeline that transports natural gas between Greece and North Macedonia.

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This week the company announced that it had increased natural gas exports by 15.03% in the first half of 2023, compared with the same period in 2022. This came to a total of 9.9TWh of energy exported.

Greece plans to become a link between Israel and the rest of Europe for natural gas. The proposed EastMed pipeline has been beset by challenges and proposed alternatives; however, if completed it would see Greece distribute gas to Bulgaria and its surrounding region as well as potentially Italy via the Poseidon pipeline.