Hydrogen via the Delta Rhine Corridor: What are we currently working on?

We believe it’s important to be thoroughly familiar with the route so that we know exactly where we can lay the pipelines later. With this in mind, we drive along the route to see what we will encounter: intersections with roads and waterways, where the infrastructure will pass through cities, towns and villages, nature reserves, areas of cultural-historical significance, etc. During these tours, we also look at which landowners will be affected by the construction of the pipelines. These drives along the route provide us with important insights so that we are already prepared when we start our dialogue with local residents and local communities.

Consulting with municipal and provincial authorities and water boards

In recent weeks, we held various consultations with representatives of the municipal and provincial authorities and water boards involved. We will also be talking to Rijkswaterstaat (authority overseeing national roads and waterways), ProRail (responsible for the national rail network) and nature organisations, for example. These discussions are important and valuable at the preparation stage so that we can determine exactly where the pipelines will be located. They provide us with lots of information and a good understanding of the area. Furthermore, they allow us to share what we are planning before we get down to work. We explain about what will be happening in the near future (schedule) and how we will engage everyone in our project, including local residents and local communities. 

We are preparing the publication of our plans

We are currently working hard on various documents, which we plan to publish on the website of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (NVO) at the beginning of September. These include the:

• Notification of Intention and Proposal for Participation, which contains the plans for DRC West;
• Memorandum on the scope and level of detail, describing what will be included in the environmental impact assessment;
• Participation plan, in which we explain the measures we will be taking to engage everyone in project developments and how everyone can provide their input or respond to the plans. 

As soon as these documents have been published, we will organise various information meetings at locations along the DRC West route. We are still looking into the locations for these meetings and the days on which they can be held. We will also be organising an online meeting – a webinar – where we will tell participants more about DRC West. As soon as more is known about this, the details will be published on the website of the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (www.rvo.nl/drc-west) and in local newspapers. We will also update you on this in our next newsletter.