Module Euro Gas Grid

A module to cluster European gas networks into any resolution.

About

This is a modular snakemake workflow created as part of the Modelblocks project. It can be imported directly into any snakemake workflow.

For more information, please consult the Modelblocks documentation, the integration example, and the snakemake documentation.

Overview

The analysis of the module is structured as follows:

1. Generic data necessary for processing is downloaded and stored locally.

2. The SciGrid-Gas dataset is processed to compute per-pipeline capacity (in $MW$). If configured, several imputations may be applied to counteract overestimations, based on PyPSA-Eur algorithms (see source code for licenses and detailed attribution).

3. Geospatial input polygons ('shapes' provided by the user) are used as basis to aggregate both gas pipelines and salt cavern $H_2$ storage.

4. Gas pipelines are converted into a network graph and then aggregated into three types of node using a maximum flow algorithm.

   • shape terminals: the centroids of the provided shapes.
   • outside terminals: the centroids of adjacent 'external' nations (at national resolution based on Natural Earth Admin 0 regions). Useful if you wish to estimate import limits in your model.
   • hubs: aggregated offshore pipeline components that connect to $\ge 3$ terminals. A maximum per-hub throughput capacity limit is provided.

5. Salt caverns are grouped into three types: onshore, nearshore and offshore (matching categorisation in Caglayan et. al). A total sum is also provided.

Configuration

Please consult the configuration README and the configuration example for a general overview on the configuration options of this module.

Input / output structure

As input, all you need to provide is a Geoparquet file with the polygons (i.e., 'shapes') to aggregate capacities into. This file should follow the schema provided by the geo-boundaries module.

Outputs for each processed input shapes file are:

• For the gas network, files describing the network topology in the form of hubs, nodes, and pipelines (edges).
• For salt caverns, a file describing the storage potential of each region.

Please consult the interface file for more information.

Development

We use pixi as our package manager for development. Once installed, run the following to clone this repository and install all dependencies.

git clone git@github.com:modelblocks-org/module_euro_gas_grid.git
cd module_euro_gas_grid
pixi install --all

For testing, simply run:

pixi run test-integration

To test a minimal example of a workflow using this module:

pixi shell    # activate this project's environment
cd tests/integration/  # navigate to the integration example
snakemake --use-conda --cores 2  # run the workflow!

References

This module is based on the following research and datasets:

• Gas network dataset: Diettrich, J., Pluta, A., Medjroubi, W., Dasenbrock, J., & Sandoval, J. E. (2021). SciGRID_gas IGGIELGNC-3 (0.2) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5079748.
• Salt cavern dataset: Caglayan, D. G., Weber, N., Heinrichs, H. U., Linßen, J., Robinius, M., Kukla, P. A., & Stolten, D. (2020). Technical potential of salt caverns for hydrogen storage in Europe. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 45(11), 6793-6805. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.12.161.
• National boundaries (used as reference for external trade): Natural Earth Admin 0 - Countries at 10m resolution. https://www.naturalearthdata.com/downloads/10m-cultural-vectors/10m-admin-0-countries/
• Original source-code / inspiration:
  • Brown, T., Victoria, M., Zeyen, E., Hofmann, F., Neumann, F., Frysztacki, M., Hampp, J., Schlachtberger, D., Hörsch, J., Schledorn, A., Schauß, C., van Greevenbroek, K., Millinger, M., Glaum, P., Xiong, B., & Seibold, T. PyPSA-Eur: An open sector-coupled optimisation model of the European energy system (Version v2025.07.0). Computer software. https://github.com/pypsa/pypsa-eur.
  • Neumann, F., Zeyen, E., Victoria, M., & Brown, T. (2023). The potential role of a hydrogen network in Europe. Joule, 7(8), 1793-1817. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2023.06.016.
  • Hofmann, F., Tries, C., Neumann, F. et al. H2 and CO2 network strategies for the European energy system. Nat Energy 10, 715–724 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01752-6.
• Shape schema definition: Ruiz Manuel, I. Modelblocks - module_geo_boundaries. Computer software. https://github.com/modelblocks-org/module_geo_boundaries/.