The transition towards the hydrogen economy will be lengthy (decades), costly and requires a significant R&D effort. Dependent on hydrogen penetration scenario, the cost of a new hydrogen pipeline infrastructure in Europe may amount to hundreds or even thousands of billions of Euros. Therefore, it seems to be a practical strategy to examine the feasibility of the potential contribution of the existing assets (natural gas transmission and distribution grids) for the establishment of the Hydrogen economy.

The project “Preparing for the hydrogen economy by using the existing natural gas system as a catalyst (NATURALHY)” is the main European project that aims to provide the natural gas industry with the necessary information to accommodate hydrogen in the existing natural gas grid with acceptable consequences. The project has been selected by the European Commission for financial support under the sixth Framework Programme, and has been recognised by the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy (IPHE).

The project’s objective is to define the conditions under which the existing natural gas grid can be used for mixtures of hydrogen and natural gas. Key issues addressed in the separate project work packages are: durability of pipeline material, integrity management, safety aspects, life-cycle and socio-economic assessment and end-use.

In the envisaged paper for the WHEC2008, we will present an overview of results obtained in the project.


The Naturalhy project is a large hydrogen related project supported by the European Commission with 39 partners and a budget of 17.3 M€. It started 2004 and ends in 2009.