(Kassel / Germany) – Gascade Gastransport GmbH has converted approximately 400 kilometers of existing natural gas pipelines to hydrogen transport. With the initial filling of the first sections as part of the "Flow – making hydrogen happen" program, a north-south axis has now been established from the Baltic Sea region to Saxony-Anhalt, forming a central part of the German hydrogen network, which will eventually be around 9.000 kilometers long. Hydrogen core network educate.
The conversion of existing natural gas pipelines along the OPAL route, which was laid 15 years ago, began in spring 2025. © Gascade Gastransport GmbH
The hydrogen infrastructure is "available to the market immediately." This provides Gascade with planning certainty for the hydrogen ramp-up, says Managing Director Ulrich Benterbusch: "Converting existing natural gas pipelines with a diameter of 1,4 meters to hydrogen is a pioneering technical achievement." The project is "a strong signal for the German hydrogen economy and for Eastern Germany as an industrial location." It creates the conditions "to be able to absorb hydrogen from the European Baltic Sea region, international hydrogen imports via the Port of Rostock, as well as green hydrogen produced on the Baltic coast – particularly at the Lubmin site," adds Managing Director Christoph von dem Bussche.
Connection to the core network by 2029
The conversion of existing natural gas pipelines along the OPAL route, which was laid 15 years ago, began in spring 2025. In Lubmin, small residual quantities of natural gas that could not be pumped away for technical reasons were flared off. The now operational section of "Flow" is the first step towards a further core network connection of the industrial centers in southern Germany by 2029. As part of the program, pipelines to Poland, the Czech Republic, and also towards Bavaria and Austria will be converted or newly constructed.
The now state-owned company Gascade Gastransport GmbH is a subsidiary of WIGA Transport Beteiligungs-GmbH & Co. KG, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Securing Energy for Europe GmbH (SEFE), based in Berlin. SEFE was formerly known as Gazprom Germania GmbH, part of the Russian Gazprom empire, which was nationalized by the Federal Republic of Germany in 2022.
Photo above
Gascade, the long-distance pipeline operator, has converted 400 kilometers of natural gas pipeline to hydrogen. © Gascade Gastransport GmbH
