Developing Sweden's Hydrogen Infrastructure Plan

Significant momentum has been building around the adoption of hydrogen in Sweden. Swedish mining giant LKAB recently announced a world’s first with the production of fossil-free iron through the use of hydrogen just as Swedish automaker Volvo announced its commitment to purchasing green steel produced with hydrogen.

Sweden’s gas infrastructure companies are garnering mounting attention as they explore the role of hydrogen and a biomethane infrastructure in a net-zero energy system by 2045. In partnership with Energiforsk, Guidehouse has published a report that evaluates decarbonization pathways for gas supply and infrastructure from today to 2045. The report concludes that Sweden will need to build a hydrogen infrastructure across most of the country, constituting one of the largest infrastructure investments Sweden has ever faced.

The report explores the development of hydrogen and a biomethane infrastructure under various gas demand scenarios and demonstrates that in all scenarios, the development of a hydrogen infrastructure remains a constant. By 2045, a regional hydrogen backbone will traverse most of Sweden from north to south. This regional backbone of transmission pipelines will deliver hydrogen produced in north-central Sweden—a region with surplus electricity supply—to the north and the south regions, where hydrogen demand clusters will develop. To meet this demand, green hydrogen supply via electrolysis will scale rapidly from 2030 to 2045. Hydrogen storage and blue hydrogen supply will also play critical roles in the Swedish energy system.

Read the report here.