Mapping Austria's Natural Gas and Hydrogen Infrastructure Plans

TL;DR

This paper creates a detailed, spatially explicit dataset of Austria's natural gas and hydrogen infrastructure up to 2040, enabling advanced energy system analysis and transition planning.

Contribution

It develops a comprehensive, topologically consistent dataset integrating natural gas and hydrogen infrastructure, including transition stages, for Austria's energy system modeling.

Findings

Detailed dataset with 586 natural gas pipeline segments

Includes 113 repurposed and 39 new hydrogen pipeline segments

Supports integrated modeling of natural gas and hydrogen infrastructure transitions

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive, spatially disaggregated dataset of Austria's natural gas and hydrogen infrastructure towards 2040. The dataset covers the complete gas transmission and distribution networks down to the medium-pressure level and integrates hydrogen expansion plans from the Austrian Gas Grid Management. Transmission infrastructure is reconstructed from ENTSOG maps, converted into a topologically consistent graph representation, and enriched with technical attributes through automated spatial matching with open-source datasets such as OpenStreetMap and Global Energy Monitor. Distribution networks and infrastructure modifications are implemented using QGas, a newly developed GIS-based tool for graph-based infrastructure manipulation. To enable forward-looking energy system analyses, the dataset explicitly represents the stage-wise transition from natural gas to hydrogen infrastructure within a single dataset. Repurposed and newly constructed hydrogen pipelines are integrated within a unified network topology using node splitting and time dependent connector elements, enabling consistent modeling of parallel natural gas and hydrogen operation over time. The resulting dataset provides a detailed representation of Austria's gas and hydrogen infrastructure, including 586 natural gas pipeline segments (5000 km), 113 repurposed segments (1250 km), and 39 newly constructed hydrogen segments (820 km), connecting 720 nodes. Moreover, it includes a comprehensive set of gas demands, biogas production facilities, storage units, electrolyzers, and compressor elements, making it directly applicable for energy system optimization models.