Gas Transmission System Operators of the South-North Corridor Region publish the third edition of their Gas Regional Investment Plan 2017

The TSOs of the South-North Corridor Region have today released the third edition of their Gas Regional Investment Plan in line with Article 12(1) of the Regulation (EC) N° 715/2009. This third edition builds further on the previous editions of the SNC GRIP, while also complementing the Ten-Year Network Development Plan 2017, and has been jointly coordinated by Snam Rete Gas and Fluxys Belgium.

Marco Alverà, CEO of Snam and President of GasNaturally, said: “The completion of the South-North Corridor projects will mark a major step towards the achievement of a fully interconnected, diversified and secure internal energy market, fully in line with the principles of the Energy Union. The South-North Corridor is at the crossroads of the major current as well as future gas import routes and is key to ensure consumers access to both clean and affordable energy.”

Pascal De Buck, ENTSOG board member and Managing Director & CEO of Fluxys commented: “The gas infrastructure along the South-North Corridor is a vital part of the European gas system and this new edition of our Gas Regional Investment Plan shows how our projects will deliver on their potential to help shaping the integrated European gas market. The South-North Corridor projects will act as a bridge between new needs and sources and provide fully-fledged bi-directional interconnector capabilities between southern and northern Europe, boosting security and diversity of supply as well as market liquidity.”

The report provides stakeholders with a deeper understanding of existing infrastructure and possible future market and projects developments within the Region. Special attention is paid to the evolution towards commissioning of the so-called South-North Corridor Reverse Flow projects in Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France, to open up the South-North Corridor and make available new sources of gas to Europe as a whole. This section is complemented with an evaluation of the Regional role in the development of the EU gas infrastructure and internal market, and a network modelling study tailored to changing flow patterns along the South-North Corridor interconnecting the main European hubs.

Furthermore, an update related to the evolution of the gas hubs in the Region together with recent trends and scenarios of gas demand and supply is also provided. A new topic introduced examines the European energy strategy and the related national energy policy frameworks in the countries of the Region.

>> The South-North Corridor Gas Regional Investment Plan 2017 is available on the ENTSOG website.

>> As for the previous editions, all comments or proposals by stakeholders that could help improve the next edition will be welcomed by the TSOs. For this a feedback form is included at the end of the report.

>> Should you require any further information please contact the coordinators of the South-North Corridor Gas Regional Investment Plan: Marco.Gazzola@snam.it or Geert.Smits@fluxys.com.

Editorial notes

The South-North Corridor Region is composed of six countries and ten TSOs:

• Countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Switzerland.
• TSOs: Fluxys Belgium (Belgium), GRTgaz (France), Fluxys Deutschland (Germany), Fluxys Tenp (Germany), terranets bw (Germany), Open Grid Europe (Germany), Snam Rete Gas (Italy), Creos (Luxembourg), FluxSwiss (Switzerland) and Swissgas (Switzerland).