A major bill is currently under discussion in the Belgian Federal Parliament (specifically in the House of Representatives) and intends to fundamentally change the rules applicable to the transport of hydrogen through pipelines in Belgium.
Hydrogen is certainly one of the energy sources that has attracted particular attention from the Belgian public authorities in recent years (Belgian Federal Strategy for Hydrogen, 2022). At federal level, the government has adopted a strategy with the following objectives:
However, unlike the gas and electricity markets, hydrogen regulation remains highly fragmented overall in Belgium.
With this bill, the federal government aims to fill this gap by introducing a regulatory framework for the transport of hydrogen by pipeline. The bill sets out a procedure for appointing a hydro-gen transport network operator in Belgium. In particular, the operator will be responsible to:
The hydrogen transmission system operator will have to comply with strict unbundling conditions:
A procedure for appointing the Hydrogen Transmission System Operator is planned, so that it can start work as quickly as possible.
In addition, the bill provides for transitional measures to take account existing hydrogen transport pipelines in Belgium. In concrete terms. the companies responsible for these pipe-lines will be able to continue to perform their current contracts. However, they will have to facilitate their interconnection as quickly as possible with the network of the hydrogen transmission system operator and will not hinder the development of this operator's network.
Initially, the current operators of existing hydrogen networks had the right to continue to man-age these networks until 31 December 2030 on condition that they offer the transport capacity still available on their networks on non-discriminatory terms, with priority given to the hydrogen transport network operator or to market players if the latter is not interested. The deadline of the 31st of December 2030 has been deleted by an amendment submitted by the Federal Government.
Finally, the CREG (Commission de Régulation de l'Electricité et du Gaz) is now responsible for monitoring and regulating the hydrogen market. These powers are based on the roles it currently plays for the natural gas and electricity markets. Specifically, the CREG will also have the power to adopt binding decisions (subject to the jurisdictional control of the Market Court).
The draft bill is still discussed before the Federal Parliament. It was supposed to be adopted on 8 June 2023; but this item has been referred to the competent commission. Additionally, it should be noted that the bill will still need to be supplemented by royal decrees and ministerial orders - in order to guarantee sufficient flexibility to allow this regulatory framework to evolve in line with the development of the hydrogen market.
More to follow…