Gasunie subsidiary Hynetwork connected the Holland Hydrogen 1 project to the first 32km stretch of the network at Rotterdam’s Maasvlakte.

The plant, which is still under construction, will use 200MW of Thyssenkrupp Nucera electrolysers powered by the Hollandse Kust Noord offshore wind farm to produce up to 60,000kg of green hydrogen per day.

Hydrogen produced by the facility will be supplied to Shell’s Energy and Chemicals Park in Rotterdam to displace the use of grey hydrogen through the Dutch pipeline network.

Shell took final investment decision on the project backed by a €150m ($172.5m) Dutch subsidy in 2022, with plans to bring the plant online by 2025. The project has since faced delays and is now expected to begin operating in late 2026.

Other major green hydrogen projects like Air Liquide’s 200MW Elygator project in Rotterdam will also feed into the network, allowing local industrial offtakers to access the gas.

Gasunie completed the 32km pipeline segment last August, marking the first section of what could become a 1,200km network connecting industrial users, producers, and import terminals across the Netherlands.

In February, the network operator filled the segment with 32 tonnes of green hydrogen made by Plug Power to test the system.