An impressive 3 300 km Hydrogen pipeline connecting North Africa to Europe will be developed under the SoutH2 Corridor project led by Snam S.p.A. Gas Connect Austria , Trans Austria Gasleitung GmbH , and bayernets GmbH who each submitted their Project of Common Interests (PCI) applications under the EU Commission's TEN-E regulation in December 2022.

The pipeline will originate in Algeria, in the Hassi R'mel region where Sonatrach has already massive gas infrastructure deployment, it will then pass the Algerian town of Hassi Messaoud, then into Tunisia through the town of Sfax, then the pipeline will cross the Mediterranean Sea to Italy and connect to the already existing Snam S.p.A. network and finally it will continue through Austria and Germany.

The initiative, according to the partners, is centred on the utilisation of existing repurposed midstream infrastructure to convey hydrogen, with the addition of new dedicated infrastructure where necessary.

A high proportion of repurposed pipelines (>70%) will allow for cost-effective transportation, while access to favourable renewable hydrogen production locations in North Africa which will enable competitive production.
The SoutH2 corridor will be part of The European Hydrogen Backbone with a Hydrogen import capacity of more than 4 Million tonnes per year and is expected to be fully operational in 2030.

Find out more on the Project website: www.southh2corridor.net

Author: Nazih Toubal