Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor
The Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor is a hydrogen transmission infrastructure project that would enable the transport of hydrogen via a pipeline in Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany.
Parties to the project are six gas system operators: Gasgrid, (Finland), Elering (Estonia), Conexus Baltic Grid (Latvia), Amber Grid (Lithuania), Gaz System (Poland), and ONTRAS (Germany).
The Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor will enable the connection of hydrogen production, consumption and storage points in the Baltic Sea region, establishing a common regional hydrogen system and market.
News Estonia's hydrogen infrastructure survey
Why is the hydrogen corridor needed
In Estonia, the establishment of hydrogen infrastructure will contribute to meeting climate and energy policy goals and create the prerequisites for establishing new clean industries, contributing to Estonia’s economic development.
The existence of hydrogen infrastructure enables the establishment of additional renewable electricity generating capacities, providing electricity producers with an alternative market to sell their energy when renewable energy generation is high, and converting water into hydrogen using electricity. Hydrogen infrastructure combined with underground hydrogen storage creates the opportunity to store renewable energy in the long term for periods when renewable electricity generation is low and it is necessary to re-generate electricity from hydrogen in the short term, contributing to the security of supply of the power system. Additional connections with neighbouring countries will increase energy security and allow Estonia and Europe more broadly to reduce dependence on energy imports from third countries. The use of hydrogen or its derivatives in industry, shipping or aviation helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in sectors where full electrification is not technically feasible or is prohibitively expensive.
At the European level, the project will help to implement the European Union’s hydrogen strategy and the RePowerEU plan to reduce dependence on imported Russian energy, supporting, among other things, the achievement of Europe’s climate goals and the creation of a new sustainable economy.
Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor
Project stages
The pre-feasibility study conclusions
The Nordic and Baltic region has significant renewable hydrogen potential identified within the pre-feasibility study at approx. 27.1 million tons of renewable hydrogen production (based on combined onshore and offshore wind and solar power) by 2040. This provides a great opportunity for hydrogen market creation and export potential towards continental Europe that is to be addressed by the NBHC.
By 2040, the Corridor is projected to annually transport up to 2.7 million tons of renewable hydrogen to the countries along its route. The pre-feasibility study indicated that the NBHC can be one of the first operational cross-border hydrogen pipelines in Europe. The NBHC pipeline is currently planned to be 48 inches (1,200 mm) in diameter and approx. 2,500 km in length.
The feasibility study
Based on the pre-feasibility study results, in the second half of 2024 the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor project partners have commenced work on the feasibility study covering detailed analysis of the technical, commercial and economic aspects of the project.
Further steps
The results will determine further steps in the project implementation and future perspectives for the construction of a new cross-border hydrogen corridor.
Strategically crucial for the future of EU energy infrastructure – Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor receives CEF funding
The project promoters of the Nordic Baltic Hydrogen Corridor (NBHC) Finland’s Gasgrid vetyverkot Oy, Estonia’s Elering, Latvia’s Conexus Baltic Grid, Lithuania’s Amber Grid, Poland’s GAZ-SYSTEM, Germany’s ONTRAS and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) signed a grant agreement for the European Union (EU) financial support to the NBHC on 1st of July, 2025.
European projects of common interest announced on 28 November 2023
Co-Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.