Legal opinion is critical of hydrogen networks for household customers

Hydrogen pipeline networks are not suitable for meeting the requirements of municipal heat planning in the allotted time. There are still too many uncertainties when it comes to converting the natural gas grid. This is the conclusion reached by a Hamburg law firm.

Hydrogen will not be there for heating in the near future – so says at least a tenet of the German national hydrogen strategy. The initially scarce gas should first be used where other decarbonization technologies are not an option. But given the increasing pressure on homeowners and municipalities to comply with climate protection regulations, heating with hydrogen seems an attractive solution. Ultimately, depending on the number of inhabitants, by mid-2026 or mid-2028 municipalities must present in detailed heating plans how they want to approach the clean heating transition.

“We are of the opinion that hydrogen may, must and can be taken into account in municipal heat planning,” says Charlie Grüneberg, press spokesman of Zukunft Gas. The former natural gas association now calls itself “the voice of the gas and hydrogen industry.”

The experiences from Baden-Württemberg, however, which was the first German state to rely on municipal heat planning, reveal a different picture. Raphael Gruseck, project leader of the regional advisory center for municipal heat planning in the region Stuttgart West, says, “Hydrogen for decentralized heat supply does not have a role in the heating plans that have already been completed for our district.” The issue is usually resolved as soon as one looks specifically at the availability and costs of hydrogen, according to Gruseck. And that is highly recommended: If the municipality backs the wrong horse and the hoped-for hydrogen is not available or is only available with a delay, the seemingly simple solution can become expensive. Citizens will then face high CO₂ prices for natural gas heating and the state will have to pay fines to the EU.

Timetables for network conversion are not yet in sight
In this debate, a legal opinion from the Hamburg law firm Rechtsanwälte Günther is now providing a clear signal that speaks against hydrogen in municipal heat planning. Commissioners of the report were Umweltinstitut München, Deutsche Umwelthilfe, the WWF, GermanZero and Klima-Bündnis. The assessors thus examined the German heating planning law (Wärmeplanungsgesetz, WPG) and building energy law (Gebäudeenergiegesetz, GEG) for what scope for action municipalities have when evaluating hydrogen in the course of municipal heat planning. A sticking point is that the municipalities are not only allowed to make directional decisions themselves, but also have to. In other words: Elected governments cannot simply delegate their responsibilities to an engineering firm.

However, they must build on technical fundamentals. One problem is that the “gas network conversion is still largely unclear and not conclusively regulated” and therefore there are no concrete timetables for possible changes, according to the report. Such a timetable, however, in accordance with the WPG, must at least concretely stand in order to be able to designate a hydrogen network area. This is also necessary because there must be a “comprehensive economic viability assessment” for heat planning, including national economic and allocated costs. The municipality cannot simply “blindly” rely on hydrogen.

Narrow time window
However, the network operators have not yet been able to create the timetables. For this, in turn, the national grid networks agency (Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA) must first lay down the rules, which is unlikely to be the case before the end of 2024. But heat planning must be in place in larger cities by the middle of 2026, and in the other municipalities by mid-2028. That can’t be done believes the climate alliance Klima-Bündnis – and therefore generally does not see hydrogen networks as an option for municipal heat planning.

The distribution network operator Gasnetz Hamburg sees it a little more optimistically. It recently launched a pilot project named H₂-SWITCH100 (see H2-international, Feb. 2024), to collect data on the feasibility and economic efficiency of possible network conversions for individual sections. “With it, Gasnetz Hamburg has created the basis that provides the economic forecast for conversions described in the report as unrealistic,” says spokesman Bernd Eilitz. Whether concrete timetables can be provided for heat planning up to 2026 is, without the framework setting of the BNetzA, however, not predictable.

Industry and power plants first
Whether such a timetable can really demonstrate the timely availability of hydrogen is another question. Hamburg, for example, will be connected to the H₂ core network at an early stage, and is planning its own large-scale electrolyzer and an ammonia import terminal. This will also be necessary to supply the basic material industries and power plants. The report by the firm Günther emphasizes that hydrogen pipelines are explicitly possible for such projects, even without designating a hydrogen network area. By using hydrogen in power plants and industrial operations, it can also indirectly promote the clean heating transition. After all, waste heat is generated there, which can be utilized via heating networks.Which network to decide on?Heating networks, with a high demand density, are usually the first choice for the heating transition. In Denmark, they are also widespread in small, rural communities. Of the decentralized solutions, electric heat pumps are the most popular in the energy transition plans. However, the electrification of heating and transportation at the same time will also push the electricity grids to their limits in some places. The municipalities then have to find concrete solutions. For Wiebke Hansen from the Umweltinstitut München, this is precisely a reason to contemplate hydrogen critically at an early stage. “Municipalities can thus concentrate better on expanding electricity grids and district heating,” she says.