16 December 2025

German hydrogen transport capacity reservation rules bring operational planning certainty to the hydrogen market, Dutch and Danish markets also benefit

News
Business
Connecting
Preparation

Today, the German TSOs announced how companies will be able to reserve hydrogen transport capacity from 2026. During what they are calling ‘Open Season’, producers, traders and customers will have the opportunity to register their future transport capacity needs. This gives market participants certainty at an early stage that they will have access to the capacity they need and it will drive investment in the hydrogen market.

A step towards a cross-border hydrogen network

The reservation rules are an important step towards a cross-border hydrogen network in north-western Europe. For market participants who will be operating on the Dutch hydrogen network, the new rules mean that they will be able to see whether there will be sufficient capacity and transport routes available to transport hydrogen to customers in Germany. Not only will this increase transparency, but it will also make it possible to arrange cross-border transport routes well ahead of time.

Hynetwork is working on similar rules to ensure that market participants will also be able to reserve capacity on the Dutch network through Hynetwork at the same time as they reserve capacity with German TSOs. Danish TSO Energinet will also offer this early reservation option for its network.

The German, Dutch and Danish TSOs are collaborating on this. Marking the first step towards cross-border capacity reservation on an ongoing basis, this coordinated Open Season reinforces the pursuit of an international hydrogen value chain.