Hydrogen pipeline planner has three years to find route through Estonia

Hendrikson & Ko has been selected to plan a route for a hydrogen pipeline through Estonia, with three years to complete the work, ERR reported. The six-country project could cost between 7 billion and 10 billion euros, while Estonia could earn transit revenue and create opportunities for a domestic hydrogen industry.

The pipeline corridor is intended to connect hydrogen producers, mainly in Finland, with major consumers, particularly in Germany and Poland. German chemical companies are interested in buying hydrogen. The gas is already used in Europe, primarily to make fertilisers, refine fuels and support chemical production.

Elering, the project’s commissioner, will pay nearly 1.2 million euros for the planning work. The government launched a special planning process earlier this year to identify a suitable route through Estonia.

The planning area covers about 6,500 square kilometres, or around 15 percent of Estonia, and includes parts of seven counties and 24 municipalities, said Ivari Rannama, head of the land and spatial policy department at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications. Planners will first identify route alternatives and then contact the relevant landowners.

The route assessment will take existing infrastructure corridors into account. New protection zones will also be needed elsewhere. Their size will depend on the pipeline’s diameter and pressure, said Igor Krupenski, a professor at Tallinn University of Technology. He said the safety zone could be wider than the 25 metres on each side used for Balticconnector, adding that the planned pipeline would be among the largest in Estonia.

Planning processes in the participating countries are expected to determine whether the pipeline is economically viable.