The Hydrogen Infrastructure That Does Not Exist Yet
September 24, 2025 · Frisian News
Europe plans a hydrogen economy but lacks the pipelines, storage, and production plants needed to make it work. Governments spend billions on promises while the practical groundwork remains incomplete.
A hydrogen pipeline connects Germany to France, but it carries no hydrogen yet. The 380-kilometer line stands empty, waiting for production plants that do not exist on either end. This sums up the European hydrogen story: ambitious targets, billions in subsidies, zero functional infrastructure. Governments talk about 2030 timelines as if the physics will bend to political schedules.
The math works poorly. To replace natural gas with hydrogen, Europe needs 30,000 kilometers of new pipe. Industry groups claim only 3,000 kilometers exist today, and most of that is pilot projects, not working supply chains. Storage remains almost nonexistent. A hydrogen economy demands vast underground reserves to balance seasonal demand, yet Europe has built almost none. The few salt caverns suitable for storage sit far from industrial centers that need the fuel.
Production faces the hardest problem. Green hydrogen requires cheap electricity and electrolyzers at industrial scale. Europe's power grid cannot supply that reliably, and electrolyzers cost three times what engineers expect them to cost in five years. Gray hydrogen, made from natural gas, defeats the whole climate purpose. Blue hydrogen with carbon capture exists only in theory. Meanwhile, oil companies sell old hydrogen production as salvation, repackaged in press releases and government reports.
Governments pump money into the fantasy anyway. The EU's hydrogen bank offers billions in contracts for future hydrogen that suppliers cannot yet produce. Britain funds electrolyzers that will sit idle without cheap power. Germany speaks of hydrogen trucks and heating, though no commercial hydrogen refueling network exists for vehicles, and heating with hydrogen makes thermal sense only in rare cases. The money flows to consultants, design firms, and political photo opportunities.
Meanwhile, Germany keeps its coal plants running because wind and sun fail at night. France uses nuclear. Both need dispatchable power today, not hydrogen dreams for 2035. The infrastructure will not appear because money and talk cannot build it fast enough. Europe faces years of pretending a hydrogen economy exists while the pipes stay empty.
Published September 24, 2025 · Frisian News