As of 1 October 2026, Trading Hub Europe (THE) is making key documents on the procedural and technical design of the future H2 market area available for the first time. The publications include the “H2 Balancing Group Management Guide”, the accompanying Process Manual, an API Guideline and supplementary technical specifications.
Guide and Process Manual for H2 Balancing Group Management
The “H2 Balancing Group Management Guide” and the Process Manual describe the envisaged workflows and key processes for future balancing group management. The documents were jointly developed by network operators and THE within the Processes Working Group. Consultations were also conducted with other market participants. The documents are intended to foster a common understanding of the processes and enable market participants to prepare for the future procedures at an early stage.
The Guide and Process Manual are initially being made available as version 0.9 and reflect the current status of the work. Outstanding chapters will be added progressively by the end of 2026.
Common Standards for Digital Data Exchange
In parallel, the API Working Group of the hydrogen network operators has developed a common API Guideline. It defines a uniform framework for the design and use of APIs, thereby providing a basis for standardised digital data exchange between the companies and market participants involved.
In addition to the API Guideline, further documents are available specifying key technical aspects of API-based communication:
Requirements for the use of JWS signatures (JSON Web Signature) to ensure secure and traceable data exchange
Specifications for the directory service used to provide relevant information for API-based communication
Requirements for the use of WebSockets in API-based communication
The API Guideline and the supplementary technical documents are also being published as a preliminary working version and made centrally available via GitHub.
With this joint publication, market participants are given early insight into the envisaged processes and technical standards for the H2 market area. The documents thus provide a basis for further preparations and the collaborative development of market processes and digital data exchange.
The documents and technical specifications are available on GitHub: https://github.com/H2-Market-Specifications
For any questions regarding this publication, please contact: feedback-marktdialog@tradinghub.eu.
The press release you can find here.
Documents