Picture courtesy of bayernets
7 Promoters’ submissions for natural gas to TYNDP 2024
95 natural gas submissions have been included in TYNDP 2024 falling under the TRA, LNG and UGS subcategories, compared to 112 that were submitted to TYNDP 2022.
7.1 TRA – Gas transmission pipeline projects including compressor stations
Today, in the EU, CH and the UK around 206,737 km of transmission pipelines exist. The data included in the map represent the total length of 46 TSOs’ transmission pipelines.
The definition of transmission pipeline might differ country by country.
Figure 31: Transmission length in EU, CH and UK in km (year 2024).
72 TRA projects have been submitted to TYNDP 2024. These projects can be summarised as follows:
- 19 interconnection projects between two or more countries. In some cases, only one side of the interconnection has been submitted since the other part is already existing or the project consists of the creation of additional capacity at the same IP where an interconnection already exists;
- 10 projects related to the construction of compressor or metering stations;
- 1 project related to new import or production development;
- 21 projects related to expansion of an existing pipeline;
- 3 projects concerning upgrade, modernisation or enhancement of the system;
- 4 infrastructure projects supporting the switch from low-calorific gas to high-calorific gas in France, the Netherlands and Belgium;
- 4 reverse flow projects to enable or enhance bi-directional flows;
- 8 projects related to terminals connection to the grid;
- 2 projects concerning methanisation of new areas.
The following map shows the list of all projects concerning transmission and compressor (or metering) stations development. Evacuation pipelines to connect regasification terminals or storages are considered as part of section 7.2.
Map for Natural Gas Projects in TYNDP 2024
7.2 UGS – Underground storage facilities
For TYNDP 2024, promoters submitted 11 projects related to underground gas storage facilities (UGS). Four of these projects are concerning expansion/enhancement of existing storage facilities, while one is related to the modernisation.
See Figure 32 above.
7.3 Further details on the TYNDP 2024 promoters’ submissions for natural gas projects
Similar to Chapter 6, this section provides more details on the investments under category TRA, LNG and UGS submitted to TYNDP 2024. The high level of investments should be considered in the context of the background described in section 6.4.
95 projects in total aim to transport and store natural gas or to receive LNG. Figure 33 provides the overview for this submission phase, compared to the previous TYNDP editions, emphasising the comparison for natural gas submissions (NG).
Figure 33: Comparison between TYNDP 2020, TYNDP 2022 and TYNDP 2024 – NG.
From Figure 33 the following conclusions can be drawn:
- The total number of new natural gas projects has declined. 143 natural gas projects were submitted to TYNDP 2022, while only 95 were submitted to TYNDP 2024.
- The European gas infrastructure has significantly developed since TYNDP 2020, increasing its resilience thanks to the commissioning of 57 natural gas projects from TYNDP 2020, of which 25 natural gas projects were commissioned since TYNDP 2022.
7.3.1 Overview per type and status
From the total of 326 projects included in TYNDP 2024, 95 natural gas projects have been submitted for the subcategories TRA, LNG and UGS (30 %). Compared to 143 Investments in these three subcategories in TYNDP 2022 and 187 in TYNDP 2020, a stable reduction of NG submissions can be observed for this TYNDP edition. This reduction is relevant for all three subcategories TRA, LNG and UGS.
The decrease is explained by the following reasons:
- The application of the GPI that sets clear administrative and technical criteria to be matched by promoters and projects in order to be considered eligible for inclusion in the TYNDP;
- Completed projects have in the meantime further contributed to the reduction of the infrastructure gaps (25 NG projects were completed between TYNDP 2022 and 2024);
- Development and inclusion of hydrogen becomes more and more important;
- The implementation of new TEN-E Regulation that prevents natural gas projects to be eligible for PCI/PMI status, and therefore, reduces the overall number of projects of European relevance submitted to TYNDP process.
The following figures and tables provide a statistical overview of promoters’ submissions (see TYNDP 2024 Annex A for further details) based on information such as the type of infrastructure or the FID status or PCI or PMI status. The Annex A reflects all the details entered by project promoters during the data collection process. Figure 35 shows a summary of TYNDP 2024 natural gas projects by project maturity status.
Due to the information collected, it has been possible to identify projects submitted for TYNDP 2022 that were not active anymore but for which promoters had missed to previously report the information to ENTSOG or that were deleted or not resubmitted (see Table 6).
17 new natural gas projects were submitted: 16 TRA and one UGS (UGS-N-659).
Figure 34: Natural gas projects in TYNDP 2024 by subcategory – LNG, TRA, UGS. The inner circle represents absolute numbers of projects; the outer circle represents the share of each subcategory.
Figure 35: Promoters’ submissions for natural gas by maturity status.
Table 6 provides a status update for the natural gas projects in TYNDP 2024.
| Status | LNG | TRA | UGS | Grand Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cancelled | 4 | 14 | – | 18 |
| Completed | 5 | 20 | – | 25 |
| In Progress | 3 | 20 | 5 | 28 |
| Not resubmitted | 2 | 8 | 2 | 12 |
| Planned | 9 | 46 | 5 | 60 |
| Grand Total | 24 | 109 | 12 | 143 |
Table 6: Number of projects for natural gas from TYNDP 2022 completed, planned, in progress, not resubmitted and cancelled.
Regarding transmission projects, an overall reduction of number of investments can be seen: 20 have been completed since TYNDP 2022, while 21 TRA projects have been cancelled or not resubmitted.
Considering LNG projects, five LNG terminals has been commissioned since TYNDP 2022 while six projects were not resubmitted or cancelled. Finally, nine LNG projects are ongoing and one of them was resubmitted with a new code (LNG-A-792 became LNG-F-880).
Among the UGS submissions’ evolution from TYNDP 2022 to TYNDP 2024, two TYNDP 2022 projects have not been resubmitted. 10 projects were resubmitted and thus, the amount of UGS submissions is very stable.
The following table provides an overview of all cancelled and not resubmitted projects.
| Project code | Project name | Status |
|---|---|---|
| TRA-F-814 | Upgrade for IP Deutschneudorf et al. for More Capacity | Cancelled |
| TRA-A-656 | Eastring – Hungary | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-524 | Enhancement of Transmission Capacity of Slovak-Hungarian interconnector | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-377 | Romanian-Hungarian reverse flow Hungarian section 2nd stage | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-325 | Slovenian-Hungarian interconnector (HU hydrogen corridor III) | Cancelled |
| LNG-A-912 | Skulte LNG | Cancelled |
| TRA-A-1181 | Connecting pipe to LNG terminal in Latvia | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-600 | Czech-Austrian Interconnection (AT) | Cancelled |
| LNG-A-559 | Hanseatic Energy Hub | Cancelled |
| LNG-N-1196 | Tie-In LNG Rostock | Cancelled |
| TRA-A-339 | Trans-Caspian | Cancelled |
| TRA-A-1060 | NEL (Middle) compressor station | Cancelled |
| TRA-A-1109 | Greifswald GPCM station | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-8 | Import developments from North-East | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-612 | ES-IT Offshore-Interconnector | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-913 | Modification of NP23 MW turboset to a hydrogen-ready low-emissions at CS04 | Cancelled |
| TRA-N-1112 | Upgrade of Compressor Station at Komotini | Cancelled |
| LNG-A-1123 | Expansion of Revithoussa LNG Terminal via installation of FSU | Cancelled |
| LNG-A-1198 | LNG Terminal Brunsbuettel | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-N-1059 | Czech-Austrian Interconnection (CZ) | Not resubmitted |
| UGS-F-347 | Underground gas storage Grubisno Polje | Not resubmitted |
| UGS-A-233 | Depomures | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-A-598 | NTS developments in North-Vest Romania | Not resubmitted |
| LNG-F-1146 | Cyprus LNG Import Terminal (CyprusGas2EU) | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-N-108 | M3 pipeline reconstruction from CS Ajdovščina to Šempeter/Gorizia | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-N-570 | Expansion Compressor Station Rehden | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-N-782 | TANAP X- Expansion of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-N-1057 | Compressor stations 2 and 3 at the Croatian gas tranmission system | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-N-1138 | South Caucasus Pipeline Future Expansion (SCPFX) | Not resubmitted |
| TRA-N-1175 | NEL Compressor Station Wittenburg | Not resubmitted |
Table 7: Cancelled and not resubmitted natural gas projects from TYNDP 2022
For a better analysis, a comparison at the maturity level between the TYNDP 2022 and the TYNDP 2024 submission is presented in the following graph. For this TYNDP, a majority of TRA, LNG and UGS projects is in the Less-Advanced status. In the previous TYNDP 2022 the highest number of projects were recorded in status “Advanced”. For the FID status, a slight reduction can be seen, while the number of “Less advanced” natural gas projects remained the same.
The reduction of the advanced share of natural gas projects is explained by the modification of the criteria in the TYNDP 2024. While in TYNDP 2024 advanced natural gas projects have already started permitting phase or completed FEED, the advanced definition applied in the TYNDP 2022 allowed for natural gas projects with FEED started or granted with CEF funds for FEED to fulfil the advanced criteria.
Figure 36: Comparison of natural gas submissions in TYNDP 2022 and TYNDP 2024 per maturity status.
7.3.2 Overview of promoters’ submissions per geographical location
The following charts provide a summary of promoters’ submissions based on their geographical location, infrastructure type and maturity status for investments in the area of natural gas categories.
The total number of natural gas submissions for TYNDP 2024 concerns 17 countries of the European Union and one (Ukraine) which is part of the Energy Community1 as contracting party.
1 The Energy Community is an international organisation which brings together the European Union and its neighbours to create an integrated pan-European energy market (https://www.energy-community.org/).
Figure 37: TYNDP perimeter countries and countries outside European Union for which Natural gas projects were submitted in TYNDP 2024
Figure 38 and Figure 39 provide an overview of the natural gas projects per country and per maturity status. The highest number of natural gas projects were submitted for Italy (16), followed by Romania (14).
The variations of submissions per country is caused by the fact that some TSOs are required to ensure some consistency between projects included in the National Development Plans and projects included in the ENTSOG TYNDP while in other countries only projects with cross-border significance should be submitted.
Figure 38: Number of natural gas projects and subcategory per country.
Figure 39: Number of natural gas projects and maturity status per country.
Natural gas infrastructure of which there are still numerous projects (most of them with FID or advanced maturity status), will continue to be necessary to address needs, such as:
- Security of supply needs as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent reduction of Russian natural gas supplies.
- Sustainability needs derived from coal to gas switch.
- Flexibility and security of supply needs driven by bottlenecks in the electricity transmission system (e. g., natural gas transmission projects that connect new natural gas fired plants to overcome electricity bottlenecks).
- To balance fluctluating renewable electricity production.
In this context, as shown in Figure 39 a significant number of natural gas projects are currently being developed to address such needs in Italy, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania.
7.3.3 Analysis of project schedule
Figure 40 and Figure 41 show the distribution of projects included in TYNDP 2024 according to the expected (first) commissioning year in an aggregated way. The majority of projects falling under the natural gas category will be commissioned within the next five years (83 out of the 95 or 87 %), while the last commissioning year is 2035.
All of the projects having FID or Advanced status are expected to be commissioned until 2028.
In addition, several years are not displayed in the following graphs, indicating that there are no projects to be commissioned during these years.
Figure 40: Natural gas projects by commissioning year and by project maturity status – TRA, UGS & LNG.
Figure 41: Natural gas projects by commissioning year (cumulative) and by project maturity status – TRA, UGS & LNG.
As part of the project collection, promoters have to provide information (except for some specific situations) about the projects’ schedules of the main project phases and milestones (i. e., Feasibility study, FEED, Permitting, FID, Construction and Commissioning).
In case of the Feasibility Study phase, the start and end dates, either past or expected, have been provided for 70 projects. The average duration of the Feasibility Study phase for these projects is 11 months with the highest average duration in case of UGS projects (13 months) and the lowest average duration for LNG projects (7 months).
In addition, 58 projects have indicated the completion of the feasibility study until the end of TYNDP 2024 project collection period. Three projects have started the feasibility study before the end of the project collection period but expect to complete them within 2024. The remaining nine projects are expected to start their feasibility study during 2024 with the latest end June 2026.
Regarding the FEED phase, the start and end dates, either past or expected, have been provided for 90 projects. The average duration of the FEED phase for natural gas projects is 25 months with the highest average duration in case of UGS projects (47 months) and the lowest average duration in case of LNG projects (8 months).
51 projects have indicated to complete the FEED phase until the end of TYNDP 2024 project collection period. In addition, seven projects have started FEED phase before the end of the project collection period but are still ongoing with the latest finalisation date in December 2028. The remaining 32 projects will not have started the FEED phase by the end of the TYNDP 2024 project collection phase.
In case of the Permitting phase, the start and end dates, either past or expected, have been provided for 90 projects. The average duration of the Permitting phase for these projects is 39 months, with the highest average duration for UGS (60 months) and the lowest average duration in case of LNG projects (20 months).
More specifically, 34 projects have completed the permitting phase until the end of TYNDP 2024 project collection period. 20 projects have started permitting phase before the end of the project collection period but are still ongoing with the latest finalisation date in December 2029. The remaining 36 projects have not started the permitting phase by the end of 2023.
The FID date, either past or expected, has been provided for 91 natural gas projects. 32 projects have obtained the FID until the end of the project collection phase. The graph below shows the distribution of projects per FID date. The average FID date is 10 August 2023 (see Figure 42).
Figure 42: Cumulative distribution of natural gas projects per FID date – TRA, UGS & LNG.
Regarding the Construction phase, the start and end dates, either past or expected, have been provided for 92 projects. The average duration of the Construction phase for these projects is 38 months, with the highest average duration in case of UGS projects (55 months) and the lowest average duration in case of LNG projects (30 months).
24 projects have started their construction prior the end of the project collection period. The remaining 68 projects have foreseen the start of the construction after the end of 2024 with latest end date in December 2037.
Figure 43 below provides all the information for the different phases described above.
The Commissioning year has been provided for all natural gas projects in TYNDP 2024. The average Commissioning year for these projects is 2027 with 54 natural gas projects expected to be commissioned by the end of 2027 and the remaining 41 until 2036 (see Figure 44).
Figure 43: Average duration of Feasibility, FEED, Permitting and Construction phases – TRA, UGS and LNG.
Figure 44: Distribution of natural gas projects per end commissioning year.
| Status | Completed in TYNDP 2024 | FID in TYNDP 2024 | Advanced in TYNDP 2024 | Less Advanced in TYNDP 2024 | Cancelled/Not resubmitted in TYNDP 2024 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FID (TYNDP 2022) | 17 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 36 |
| Advanced (TYNDP 2022) | 6 | 13 | 26 | 8 | 11 | 642 |
| Less-Advanced (TYNDP 2022) | 2 | 1 | 43 | 20 | 16 | 43 |
| Total | 25 | 28 | 31 | 29 | 30 | 143 |
2 Two natural gas projects were neither cancelled nor completed but submitted with a new code.
3 Three out of the four projects (TRA-N-224, TRA-N-303 and TRA-N-910) which moved to “Advanced” status changed their code from TRA to H2T.
Table 8: Evolution of projects from TYNDP 2022 to TYNDP 2024 (natural gas category).
Of the 36 projects submitted for TRA, LNG and UGS already having the FID status in TYNDP 2022:
- 17 were completed;
- 14 are still in progress keeping the FID status;
- One is still planned but no more FID4;
- Two projects (UGS-F-347 and LNG-F-1146) were not resubmitted by the promoters, while one (TRA-F-814) was cancelled.
Of the 64 natural gas projects submitted already having the Advanced status in TYNDP 2022:
- Six were completed;
- 13 got the FID status after the TYNDP 2022 project collection;
- 26 still have the Advanced status;
- Eight moved from Advanced to Less-Advanced due to delay or rescheduling;
- 10 were cancelled or not resubmitted by the promoter (LNG-A-1198, TRA-A-656, LNG-A-912, TRA-A-118, LNG-A-559, UGS-A-233, TRA-A-339, TRA-A-1060, TRA-A-1109 and LNG-A-1123);
- One project was submitted with a different code number and obtained the FID status in TYNDP 2024 (LNG-A-792 became LNG-F-880).
Of the 43 natural gas projects submitted already having the Less-Advanced status in TYNDP 2022:
- Two were completed;
- One got the FID after the TYNDP 2022 project collection;
- Four moved from Less-Advanced to Advanced. Three out of the four (TRA-N-224, TRA-N-303 and TRA-N-910 ) changed their project type from TRA to H2T;
- 20 are still planned and maintained the Less-Advanced status;
- 16 were cancelled/not-resubmitted.
For natural gas projects not having gotten the FID yet but presenting an Advanced status (23 projects) the analysis shows:
- For all natural gas projects the FID date was provided and 19 are expected to be commissioned within five years from when the FID is expected to be taken, while for four submissions it is between six and twelve years;
- An average of almost two years between the year when the construction works are expected to start and when the project is expected to be commissioned.
4 Project TRA-N-245 has a Less-Advanced status in TYNDP 2024 while in TYNDP 2022 it had FID status. The promoter noted that the scope of TRA-N-245 was wider in TYNDP 2022 as it contained a project more advanced than others. That project has been completed and it is not part of TRA-N-245 anymore. Therefore, the status is now Less-Advanced.
For natural gas projects not having gotten the FID yet but presenting a Less-Advanced status (43 projects) the analysis shows:
- For 40 “Less-Advanced” natural gas projects the FID date was provided. 34 are expected to be commissioned within five years from when the FID is expected to be taken, while for the rest of the submissions it is within seven years;
- It should be noted that information may not be always reliable with regards to Less-Advanced projects.
The way FID is taken by each promoter may differ. Some may take FID after the granting of permits and some before initiating the permitting procedure. Those permitting procedures often represents the longest phase of the whole project schedule which often lasts more than five years.
Figure 45 and Figure 46 illustrate the status of those common projects according to TYNDP 2022 and TYNDP 2024 submissions. The charts show the share of those projects for which a delay has been reported regarding their expected commissioning date and the length of this delay.
Three natural gas projects have been submitted with an earlier commissioning date.
Among the main reasons indicated by promoters for delay and rescheduling are:
- Permitting and regulatory delays;
- Environmental and impact assessments;
- Project dependencies;
- Financial and funding issues;
- Technical and engineering challenges;
- COVID-19 pandemic impact;
- Other specific delays.
Figure 45: Share per scheduled status for resubmitted natural gas projects.
Figure 46: Reported delays from TYNDP 2022 to TYNDP 2024 for natural gas projects.
7.3.4 Investment costs
As mentioned in section 6.4.4, investment costs might be commercially sensitive information and in some cases have the potential to negatively affect the competitive position of project promoters vis-à-vis contractors. As part of the transparency process adopted, ENTSOG has collected information from promoters on indicative investment costs for all submitted projects.
71 out of 95 submissions declared their costs as non-confidential. The total capital expenditure for all the three natural gas subcategories was more than 37 billion euros in TYNDP 2024.
The highest share of costs is represented in the advanced status (48 %) while the share of advanced project for all the natural gas projects is around 53 % (see Figure 47).
As shown in Figure 48, TRA projects (76 % of the total number of natural gas projects) cover the majority of the investment costs for the respective category (90 %). In addition, almost half of the total costs for natural gas investments will take place until 2027 (44 %) (see Figure 49).
Figure 47: Overview of total capital expenditure by project maturity status – TRA, UGS and LNG.
Figure 48: Overview of total capital expenditure by subcategory – TRA, UGS and LNG.
In addition, several years are not displayed in the graph, indicating that no cost values were recorded for those periods.
Figure 49: Overview of total capital expenditure by last commissioning year and project maturity status – TRA, LNG and UGS.
7.3.5 TYNDP 2024 submissions and national development plans
Following the legal framework mentioned in section 6.4.5 and ACERs’ recommendations, ENTSOG requested project promoters to always indicate if their initiatives are part of the NDP. If not, the project promoters had to indicate the reason for its project not being part of the NDP. Out of the total number of projects that were listed under the natural gas subcategories, 84 (88 %) were included in the NDP.
The subcategory with the highest number of included projects was TRA (66), followed by UGS (10) and LNG (8).
Table 9 below presents the number of projects per country that are included or not in the respective NDP.
| Country | Part of NDP | NOT Part of NDP | Country | Part of NDP | NOT Part of NDP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT | 2 | – | IT | 16 | – |
| BE | 2 | – | LT | – | – |
| BG | 5 | 1 | LU | – | – |
| BIH | – | – | LV | 1 | – |
| CH | – | – | MT | 1 | – |
| CY | – | – | NA | – | – |
| CZ | 2 | – | NL | 2 | 2 |
| DE | 9 | – | NO | – | – |
| DK | – | – | PL | 4 | 1 |
| EE | – | – | PT | 1 | – |
| ES | – | – | RO | 13 | 1 |
| FI | – | – | SE | – | – |
| FR | 5 | – | SI | 5 | – |
| GR | 7 | 5 | SK | 4 | – |
| HR | 4 | 1 | UA | 1 | – |
| HU | – | – | UK | – | – |
| IE | – | – | – | – | – |
Table 9: Overview of projects being part or not of NDPs by country – TRA, LNG and UGS.
For 11 projects reported as not part of any NDP, promoters have indicated the following reason:
- Project is exempted from the network development obligations of Article 22 Gas Directive 2009/73/EC and hence from the obligation to be included in the NDPs.
For further details, please refer to TYNDP 2024 Annex A. Additional assessments are available in ACER’s opinion 07-2024 of 29 October 2024 on the review of gas and hydrogen national development plans to assess their consistency with the EU-TYNDP.
7.4 TYNDP 2024 natural gas projects being part of the 1st union list under the revised TEN-E Regulation
Although, as a general rule, natural gas projects are ineligible for PCI and PMI status (see section 6.5), the EastMed Pipeline (TRA-A-330) retained its PCI status as a unique exception, alongside the project connecting Malta to the European gas network (TRA-N-31).
This exception was granted due to geographical constraints and the fact that these countries lack connections to the trans-European gas network. It is important to note that this exemption is temporary and subject to stringent conditions to align with the European Union’s broader energy and climate policy objectives.