Ready4H2 held its18th webinar on the status of hydrogen developments in Austria last week. Michael Obermann, Renewable Gases Consultant with the Austrian Gas and Water Association, ÖVGW, presented an overview of the Austrian hydrogen landscape, covering national policy, regulatory developments and the country's long-term decarbonisation strategy to achieve climate neutrality by 2040. The National Hydrogen Strategy (2022) sets the country's objective to use H2 to decarbonise industry and transportation.
The importance of gas in Austria is evident: with 44,000 km distribution pipelines, 98 TWh gas storage capacity, plans for hydrogen transmission and the recent Industrial Strategy 2035 that established a Hydrogen Start Network means there is a strong basis for system conversion to hydrogen. By 2040, more than 1,400 km of pipelines are expected to be repurposed and around 970 km newly built for hydrogen transportation. In addition, Austria’s electricity is over 90% renewable and therefore green hydrogen production complies with current RFNBO thresholds. Amongst this, Michael emphasised the continued importance of coordinated planning, infrastructure readiness and stakeholder engagement to enable Austria's hydrogen transition.
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