Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor Project Launches Initial Public Consultation

Continuing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process for the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor project, AS Conexus Baltic Grid (hereinafter – Conexus), the unified natural gas transmission and storage system operator, will organize the initial public consultation on the planned hydrogen pipeline in Latvia from 28 July to 1 September 2026. As part of the consultation process, public consultation meetings will also be held in ten municipalities located within the project study area.

The meetings are scheduled to take place from 10 to 20 August and will be open to residents, landowners, municipal representatives, and other interested stakeholders, both in person and remotely. The meetings will be held in the municipalities of Valmiera, Smiltene, Valka, Cēsis, Sigulda, Saulkrasti, Ropaži, Salaspils, Ķekava, and Bauska. Participants will be able to attend in person or join online. Information on meeting schedules, venues, and connection details will be available at www.conexus.lv and www.environment.lv.

The initial public consultation represents the first stage of public engagement, allowing residents, landowners, and municipalities to provide comments and proposals for the further study and assessment of the project.

The study area defined for the EIA currently includes 1,773 land parcels or parts thereof. The potential route of the pipeline within this area will be assessed during the preparation of the EIA report and subsequently refined during the engineering design phase.

It should be emphasized that the planned hydrogen pipeline is intended to be constructed parallel to the existing natural gas transmission pipeline. This technical solution enables the project to make maximum use of an already established infrastructure corridor.

The Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor is a cross-border energy infrastructure initiative aimed at creating a regional hydrogen transmission backbone connecting Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany. Depending on the selected route and connection point with Estonia, the pipeline section in Latvia could extend approximately 270–280 kilometres.

Project development began with a pre-feasibility phase in 2024, during which the technical, economic, and regulatory prerequisites for the implementation of the hydrogen corridor were analysed. The project is currently in the detailed study and planning phase, which is expected to continue until 2027.

The project is of strategic importance in the context of Europe’s energy transition and has been granted the status of a Project of Common Interest (PCI) by the European Commission. The Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor is being developed by six gas transmission system operators: Elering (Estonia), Conexus Baltic Grid (Latvia), Amber Grid AB (Lithuania), GAZ-SYSTEM (Poland), ONTRAS Gastransport (Germany), and Gasgrid Vetyverkot Oy, a subsidiary of Finland’s gas transmission system operator Gasgrid Finland Oy.

The project has secured funding from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). A co-financing grant of EUR 6.8 million has been awarded for the study phase to support in-depth technical, economic, regulatory, and environmental assessments. According to current estimates, construction of the infrastructure could begin around 2029, while commissioning is planned for a period after 2033.