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ElWG adopted – implications for the gas industryThe adoption of the Electricity Industry Act (ElWG) has brought about significant changes for the Austrian electricity market. This has been reported on extensively in recent days, and we will deliberately refrain from going into further detail about the electricity market here. Less in the public eye, but of considerable importance, is an amendment to the Energy Control Act contained in the legislative package. This expands the remit of the regulatory authority and gives it the name ‘Energie-Control Austria for the Regulation of the Electricity, Gas and Hydrogen Industry’ in future. This clearly defines the institutional responsibility for the emerging hydrogen market for the first time. The key challenge now is to quickly fill this new regulatory competence with concrete content. The timely implementation of the gas and hydrogen package within the framework of the planned new GWG is crucial for this. Only then will the necessary legal framework for the ramp-up of the hydrogen economy be created. These steps are essential in order to exploit Austria's potential as a future European hydrogen hub. Our H₂-Roadmap for Austria shows how the hydrogen infrastructure can be successfully developed. It envisages the first (regional) start-up networks with storage connections before 2030. From 2030 onwards, the ramp-up is expected to gain significant momentum through international connection to the European Hydrogen Backbone. The future hydrogen network will grow in line with demand and will be based largely on the repurposing of existing gas pipelines. The projects of the transmission system operators Gas Connect Austria GmbH and TAG GmbH play a central role in this. They are an integral part of both the Austrian H₂ roadmap and the international SoutH2Corridor, which stretches from North Africa via Italy and Austria to Germany. Due to their strategic importance, these projects were recently confirmed as ‘Projects of Common Interest’ (PCI) by the European Commission. At the same time, as mentioned above, preparatory work is underway for a further update of the H₂ roadmap, which we plan to publish as version 3.0 in autumn 2026. It will map out the next development steps for the Austrian hydrogen system in even greater detail than the previous version. We are continuing to work for the energy transition in the pipeline! |
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