The power-to-gas technology uses green electricity to generate hydrogen or methane. In contrast to electrical energy, these two gases are easy to store and transport. A spokesperson from Tennet recently announced that the company would join forces with Gasunie and Thyssengas to produce the first pilot model of a power-to-gas plant by 2022. By 2028, additional modules will be added, until the system finally reaches a capacity of 100 megawatts.

As possible sites, the spokesperson named the town of Weener as well as the municipality of Wiefelstede, both in East Frisia. The region is already home to Tennet substations that primarily concentrate and forward wind power from the North Sea. With the pilot project, the companies aim to gain experience with this type of system on an industrial scale. The investment sum is somewhere in the order of the low hundred millions.

The project is due not least to popular resistance to the construction of new north-to-south lines for energy transport. In contrast, by converting to gas the companies could theoretically use the entire German gas grid with a length of up to 400,000 km.