International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy

Belgian Strategy

Belgian Federal View Strategy Hydrogen (October 2022)

Belgian Roadmap

A Five-Step Plan towards Growing the Role of Hydrogen in Belgium's Economy (October 2022)

Updated November 2024

- Designation of HNO

The law of 11 July 2023 on the transport of hydrogen by pipelines organises the designation of the hydrogen network operator who will be responsible for planning, developing and managing the hydrogen transport network in Belgium.

In April 2024, Belgium officially designated Fluxys Hydrogen, a subsidiary of Fluxys Belgium, the Belgian Gas Transmission System Operator (TSO), as the operator of its national hydrogen network. As already announced here, Fluxys Hydrogen has also been entrusted with the development of Belgium's hydrogen backbone. The first phase of this critical infrastructure is set to be completed by the summer of 2026.

- CHtB

The Belgian federal government launched a call for projects called ‘Clean Hydrogen to Belgium’. This call for projects aims to promote research into the development and demonstration of technologies and infrastructure for hydrogen import. All technologies for hydrogen import are eligible for this call, provided they enable the injection of gaseous hydrogen into the hydrogen transport network in Belgium.

- Belgian Mission to Canada

From September 23 to 27, a Belgian delegation embarked on a mission to Canada to strengthen collaboration in the hydrogen sector. Showcasing Belgium’s expertise across the entire hydrogen value chain, the delegation included representatives from leading Belgian companies and a hydrogen expert from Belgium’s Federal Public Service (FPS) Economy.

This second mission to Canada was organized in partnership with the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, the governments of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador, and with the support of Flanders Investment and Trade.

Visits to Canadian facilities and presentations of key projects provided FPS Economy and the Belgian delegation with valuable insights into Canada’s hydrogen strategies. These interactions facilitated an evaluation of cooperation opportunities and confirmed Canada’s role as a significant exporter of green molecules.

Highlighting the success of this bilateral collaboration, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Port of Antwerp-Bruges and the Government of Newfoundland & Labrador, further strengthening ties between the two nations in the energy transition.

No update

Update November 2024

- Clean Hydrogen for Clean Industry

The projects under the Clean Hydrogen for Clean Industry call for projects as mentioned in the last meeting are all making good progress. None of them have been finalised however, so we cannot give concrete updates about the results as of yet.

- CertifHy Precertification Pilot

With the support of the Energy Transition Fund and in collaboration with Hinicio and LBST, Belgian company CertifHy launched a precertification pilot project. This was a follow-up to a similar project, the HYPORT Duqm green ammonia project, a collaboration between Belgium's DEME and Oman's OQ. They launched an open call for projects to run precertification pilots for projects producing RFNBOs destined for the Belgian market.

The pilot projects aim to:

1. support the Federal Administration in setting up its own RFNBO certification framework for consumption in the transport and industrial sectors; and

2. support project developers in gaining knowledge, assurance and understanding in RFNBO certification and, depending on project maturity, accelerate the Final Investment Decisions (FIDs) of these projects

The selected pilot projects are: Total (hydrogen, NL), TES (eNG, Oman), Yara (ammonia, Oman), First Ammonia (ammonia, US), BearHead (ammonia, Canada).

Update November 2024

- International Hydrogen Colloquium – February 16th 2024 in Liège

During its presidency of the Council of the European Union, Belgium strived towards creating a European and worldwide market for hydrogen. Therefore, the Federal Energy Ministry organized an International Hydrogen Colloquium aimed at hydrogen experts on Friday 16th February 2024 in Liège. The colloquium was introduced by high-level speakers and included three workshops covering the subjects of worldwide hydrogen certification, upscaling of demand for hydrogen and financial tools coordination. The conclusions of this event served as input for the next European Commission.

- Roundtable with industrial hydrogen offtakers

On October 25, the Federal Public Service of Economy hosted an informal roundtable discussion with some of Belgium's key industrial hydrogen offtakers. The exchange provided valuable insights, which will be shared with the next federal minister of energy upon taking office.

- Benelux workshop Security & Resilience of the H2 network:

Ont the 20th of November, the Federal Public Service of Economy organizes a workshop on the Security and Resilience of the H2 network. The approach towards security has significantly changed over the last years. Where, until recently, the focus was put on proactive protection against man-made external factors (mainly terrorism), this has, under the influence of several events, evolved towards an all-hazards approach, where not only preventive protection, but also resilience and incident management, have become an integral part of the term “security”. As response to this evolution, the European Commission has developed the “Critical Entities Resilience” framework. This new framework does not only imply a different approach towards security, it has also enlarged the scope – the amount of (sub)sectors that should be considered to be protected in a better way have increased. Hydrogen is one of these new sectors, explicitly mentioned by the European Commission, for which a security policy should be developed. Important parts of the hydrogen network are currently being built. This gives us the unique opportunity to discuss and decide on the design and building of this network, with several aspects related to security and resilience in mind, from the very beginning of the building process:

- Security by design

- Cross-border cooperation

- Involvement of other partners

- BENELUX Workshop "Policy perspectives on the import of hydrogen derivatives":

On the 2nd of December, the Federal Public Service of Economy organises a workshop on the policy perspectives with respect to the import of hydrogen derivatives. We all agree that hydrogen will play a key role in the energy transition, and significant quantities will need to be imported from overseas particularly for Benelux and neighboring regions. To facilitate this, we will require robust infrastructure, technological developments and supportive policies. However, uncertainties remain about which type of molecules will dominate the market.

The aim of the workshop is to understand, discuss and identify strategic considerations to support the importation of hydrogen derivatives

Update November 2024

As stated above, the Federal Public Service of Economy launched the Project call “clean hydrogen to Belgium” to promote research into the development and demonstration of technologies and infrastructure for hydrogen import. All technologies for hydrogen import are eligible for this call, provided they enable the injection of gaseous hydrogen into the hydrogen transport network in Belgium.

Also, the federal government is still planning to provide funding for the development of the hydrogen transport infrastructure. The first phase will be partly supported by a budget of 95 million euros in the context of the national recovery and resilience plan. Next to this, 250 million euros will be allocated to support the further development of the Belgian hydrogen backbone.

Update November 2024

The Belgian administration is working on the transposition of important European regulations with regards to the European hydrogen market, notably the gas and hydrogen decarbonisation package and the Renewable Energy Directive.

Next to that, a royal decree on the Hydrogen Network development plan was published. This royal decree determines the procedure for the development of a Hydrogen Network development plan. The plan has to be developed by the Hydrogen Network operator for a duration of ten years and will have to be updated every two years.

Sidenote: This royal decree was published before the publication of the European gas and hydrogen decarbonisation package and will most likely need adaptation to the European regulations.

• 613km of H2 pipelines (2023)

• Total road FCEVs (2022): 33

• Annual H2 demand (2021):

• Refining: 168 kt H2/y

• Feedstock for ammonia production: 196 kt H2/y

• Total H2 production (2022): 449 kt H2/y

• Geological storage capacity (2023): 8,7 bcm H2

essai belgique

No update

Belgian Statement (PDF); 40th Steering Committee Meeting; Washington DC, USA; October 4-5, 2023

Contact: Maarten NOENINCKX maarten.noeninckx@economie.fgov.be