Hydrogen is essential to a secure and climate-neutral energy supply of the future. The “H2 Backbone WAG + Penta-West” project aims to supplement the West Austria Gas Pipeline (WAG) and the Penta- West Pipeline (PW) with a parallel line for hydrogen transport. The project will thus create cross-border bidirectional transport possibilities for hydrogen between Austria and Slovakia, as well as Austria and Germany. The hydrogen required can be obtained from different sources. Industrial clusters in Austria and Bavaria could be supplied with hydrogen from regions such as North Africa, Ukraine, Romania and Croatia. The project increases domestic supply security and significantly contributes to achieving the Austrian and European climate goals. 

The project is part of the Europe-wide initiative REPowerEU, which aims to enable the European import of hydrogen via three major corridors. This should supply the European Union with large quantities of CO2-neutral hydrogen in the future.