Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline

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Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline is an operating natural gas pipeline in Germany transmitting between Northern and Southern Europe.

Location

The pipeline runs within Germany, from the Bocholtz interconnection point along the western border of Germany, to the Wallbach interconnection point in Switzerland. It connects with the Dutch gas network at Bocholtz; with the WEDAL Gas Pipeline near Aachen; with the MEGAL Gas Pipeline at Mittelbrunn; and with the Transitgas Gas Pipeline at Wallbach.

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Project Details

• Operator: TENP GmbH & Co. KG
• Parent Company: Open Grid Europe (51%) and Fluxys (49%)
• Current capacity: 15.5 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 968 kilometers / 601 miles
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 1974

Reverse Flow project

• Operator: TENP GmbH & Co. KG
• Parent Company: Open Grid Europe (51%) and Fluxys (49%)
• Current capacity: 5.4 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 968 kilometers / 601 miles
• Cost: €17.33 million (US$20.9 million)
• Financing: €9.1 million (US$11 million) in two grants from the EU's Connecting Europe Facility
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2020

Alpine HyWay (Hydrogen Conversion)

• Operator: TENP GmbH & Co. KG
• Parent Company: Open Grid Europe (51%) and Fluxys (49%)
• Current capacity:
• Length: 240km
  • Au am Rhein-Schwarzach:
  • Barbelroth-Au am Rhein: 23km
  • Eckartsweier-Hügelheim: 85km
  • Hügelheim-Hüsingen: 32km
  • Hüsingen-Wallbach: 15km
  • Mittelbrunn-Barbelroth: 56km
  • Schwarzach-Eckartsweier: 29km
• Cost:
• Financing:
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2040

History

The TENP pipeline was planned at the beginning of the 70's as the German part of the pipeline system that would supply Dutch gas to Italy. Today the TENP pipeline system, coupled with the Transitgas pipeline, plays a key role in the supply of Norwegian gas to the German, Swiss and Italian markets.

Background

The Trans Europa Naturgas Pipeline (TENP) consists of two parallel pipelines measuring 500 kilometers, running from the Bocholtz interconnection point with the Netherlands along the western border of Germany to the Wallbach interconnection point with the Transitgas pipeline in Switzerland. From Wallbach, the Transitgas system takes gas delivered by TENP and transmits it to Italy.

Since 2007 the TENP system includes a share of the pipeline running from Stolberg to the Belgian border at Raeren/Eynatten, where the TENP system is connected to the Belgian network operated by Fluxys.

Technical Details

The TENP pipeline system consists of two lines, the first of the two (36"-38") has been working since 1974 and the second (40") was completed in 2006. Part of this second line has been working since 1978. The system also includes 4 compression stations located at Stolberg, Mittelbrunn, Schwarzach and Hügelheim.

Reverse Flow Project

The TENP line underwent infrastructural changes to implement a bi-directional ability to the gas system. As of December 2019, the implementation schedule is listed with a start date of July 2016 and an end date of October 2020. However, Fluxys states that the bidirectionality of the pipeline has been available since October 2018. This reverse flow project enabled gas flows from Italy and France into Germany, significantly adding to the gas supply for Germany.

The reversing of gas flows from south to north has been listed as the European Project of Common Interest (PCI) since 2012. Due to the fact that Italy has become a major hub for current and future gas supplies from Northern Africa along with the development of the Southern Corridor project, a south to north flow allows for significantly diverse gas supplies.

The scope of action for this project includes the "construction of an innovative industrial-scale deodorisation facility in the district of Freiburg in order to remove the odorant in the gas, allowing hence to import gas from Italy/France via Switzerland into Germany."

The €17,330,000 budget for the project included a €8,665,000 grant contribution from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) in 2015 for construction work. The CEF also awarded the project a €440,384 grant for studies.

Security of Supply Project

The TENP security of supply project entailed the expansion of two sections of the TENP, from Mittelbrunn-Schwanheim and Hügelheim-Tannenkirch. The project, completed in 2020, added connections between TENP 1 and 2, as well as an additional 1000mm diameter pipeline to the 38km Mittelbrunn-Schwanheim pipeline and a 900mm pipeline to the 16km of pipeline from Hügelheim-Tannenkirch. These projects were included in ENTSOG's TYNDP 2022 with identifier code TRA-F-402.

Additional capacity expansions were also carried out across 2020-21 on the Schwanheim-to-Elchesheim section in Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Wuerttemberg, the approximately 30 km section from Schwarzach to Eckartsweier, and the 16 km section from Tannenkirch to Hüsingen, all of which are located in Baden-Wuerttemberg. These are included in ENTSOG's 2022 TYNDP as TRA-F-1095.

Identifiers

The reverse flow ENTSOG Project Code is TRA-F-208.

The European Commission lists the reverse flow project as part of PCI 5.10.

The SciGrig_Gas IGG gas transmission network data set refers to the project as "INET_PL_6770", "INET_PL_6771", "INET_PL_6772", "INET_PL_6773", "INET_PL_6774" and "INET_PL_6775".