ACM approves hydrogen pilot project for newly-built and existing homes in northern Dutch city

The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has approved distribution system operator (DSO) RENDO’s hydrogen pilot project in the northern Dutch city of Hoogeveen. It is the first pilot project where hydrogen will be used for the heating of newly-built homes, and is the third such pilot project for existing homes.

The pilot project covers 80 to 100 newly-built homes in the Nijstad-Oost district and a maximum of 18 homes homes in the Erflanden district. This pilot project is bigger and, with a duration of 15 years, longer than the current pilot projects involving hydrogen in the Dutch towns of Lochem and Wagenborgen.

Residents of the existing homes can participate on a voluntary basis. These households also have the ability to stop participating in the pilot project sooner, and switch back to natural gas. The newly-built homes still need to be built, and will be completed with a hydrogen connection pre-installed. With regard to these newly-built homes, no natural-gas network will be built. Households in these homes, therefore, will not be able switch to natural gas, but they will be able to switch to an electric heat pump.

For households in existing homes, the hydrogen price is linked to the natural-gas price. For newly-built homes, the costs will be on par with those for heating using a heat pump and solar panels. The rationale for this is that participants do not pay more than they would have otherwise.

Existing hydrogen pilot projects

The pilot project in Hoogeveen is the third project that ACM has approved. In October 2022, ACM gave the green light to a pilot project with DSO Liander in the town of Lochem. In Lochem, hydrogen has been used for at least a year already to heat 12 homes. In June 2023, ACM approved a pilot project with DSO Enexis in the town of Wagenborgen. In that town, 33 homes switched to hydrogen.

The first experiences in the pilot project in Lochem are positive. This is evidenced by, among other things, Liander’s report about the first year. An annual report about the lessons learned in the pilot project is one of the conditions for ACM’s approval of the project. This summer, Enexis will report about the first year.

Background

Hydrogen is expected to play a major role in the future supply of sustainable energy (for example in industry), but it is still uncertain if and to what extent hydrogen can play a role in the heating of homes. With these pilot projects, system operators are able to gain experience with the distribution of hydrogen in the built environment. This will provide more clarity surrounding the use of hydrogen for the heating of homes.

ACM gives the green light to such pilot projects, provided that the companies involved comply with the consumer protection rules laid down in the Temporary framework regarding hydrogen pilots (in Dutch), and provided that the safety of these projects are properly safeguarded. The Dutch State Supervision of Mines (SodM) will conduct oversight over safety matters in the distribution of hydrogen to residences, and, in its regulatory report (in Dutch), has ruled that the pilot project in Hoogenveen meets the safety requirements. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (EZK) has laid down the safety requirements for these kinds of projects in guidelines (in Dutch).