Connecting the Low Countries With a Hydrogen Heart

Gasunie and Fluxys ink a milestone deal to link Dutch and Belgian ports via a hydrogen pipeline, aiming for a 2030 launch

21 Apr 2026

The border between the Netherlands and Belgium is usually invisible, marked only by a change in the texture of the asphalt or the brand of coffee at a petrol station. However, beneath the soil near Zandvliet, a new distinction is being dug. On April 9th, 2026, Gasunie and Fluxys, the national grid operators of the two countries, signed an agreement to link their hydrogen networks. By 2030, they hope to move the gas between the industrial hubs of Rotterdam and Antwerp with the same ease that commuters move between them today.

It is a project born of necessity rather than mere neighborly spirit. For decades, these pipes carried natural gas, heating homes and powering the heavy industry of the Low Countries. As Europe attempts to purge itself of carbon, the infrastructure must adapt or become a multibillion-euro series of buried trophies. The plan is to reuse existing pipelines where possible, a pragmatic choice that saves both money and the administrative headache of seizing new land.

The logic is industrial. The ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Ghent form a dense thicket of chemical plants and refineries. These are "hard-to-abate" sectors, a polite way of saying they cannot run on batteries. They need the intense heat and chemical properties that only a molecule like hydrogen can provide. By linking these clusters, Gasunie and Fluxys are attempting to create a liquid market where none currently exists.

Yet, the ambition faces a familiar paradox. Infrastructure usually follows demand, but in the hydrogen economy, demand waits for the pipes. Investors are hesitant to build expensive electrolysers without a way to ship the product; factories are loath to swap their furnaces without a guaranteed supply. "The agreement represents one of the most tangible bilateral infrastructure commitments in the region so far," the companies noted, signaling that the era of theoretical maps is ending.

If successful, the Zandvliet link will be a small but vital vertebrae in the "European Hydrogen Backbone." But success is not merely a matter of engineering. It depends on whether the green hydrogen to fill these pipes can ever be produced at a price that does not make the region’s industry uncompetitive. For now, the two countries are laying the pipes and hoping the economics will eventually flow through them.