The approximately 17-kilometer-long pipeline forms the German section of the cross-border hydrogen project MosaHYc ( Moselle-Saar Hydrogen Conversion). In the future, it will transport hydrogen from France to the Saarland. High-ranking representatives from the worlds of politics and business gathered in Wallerfangen for the official groundbreaking ceremony.
Anke Rehlinger, Minister-President of the Saarland, described the groundbreaking ceremony as a visible sign of a new chapter for the industrial region and said that the Saarland is thereby creating the infrastructure needed to lead its industry into the future in a more climate-friendly and competitive manner.
The ceremony took place in the Oberlimberg district of the municipality of Wallerfangen, in the immediate vicinity of the future pipeline route. Rafael Sierra Garrido, managing director of Creos Deutschland GmbH, pointed out that the cross-border project could only succeed because people and companies were working toward a common goal across national borders —and that this was a powerful symbol, especially at a time when international understanding no longer seems to be a given.
From Planning to Construction
The MosaHYc hydrogen project is intended to connect the networks of two countries in the future. Creos is constructing the German section between Leidingen and Dillingen. On the French side, the network operator NaTran France is retrofitting approximately 20 kilometers of existing pipelines and building five kilometers of new ones. The new pipeline will run from Leidingen toward Bouzonville. The German portion of the project has been designated an Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) and is receiving funding from the federal and state governments.
The planning approval decision for the German section was issued in July 2026 and is final. Pipe-laying and civil engineering work will begin when construction starts in August 2026. According to the current project schedule, the construction phase will last about one and a half years. For Creos, this marks the second major conversion of its network: Managing Director Frank Gawantka noted that the company switched its network from coke oven gas to natural gas in the 1970s and is now beginning the transition from natural gas to hydrogen.
A Building Block for a European Hydrogen Network
The pipeline creates the conditions necessary to transport hydrogen across borders and make it available to large industrial consumers. MosaHYc is thus part of a larger European hydrogen infrastructure. In conjunction with the German hydrogen core network and other European projects such as HY4LINK and HYFEN, this connection will eventually also enable the transport of imported hydrogen from northern Germany as well as via the Iberian Peninsula, Luxembourg, and Belgium.
Support also came from Luxembourg. Minister of the Economy Lex Delles said that MosaHYc represents another step toward a connected European hydrogen infrastructure for his country and lays the foundation for future connections to neighboring networks. More hydrogen infrastructure means greater security of supply, competitiveness, and resilience for Luxembourg and the Greater Region.
