A memorandum of cooperation in the development and implementation of projects for production of green hydrogen in Ukraine was signed by PrJSC Ukrhydroenergo with the German companies Andritz Hydro and MAN Energy Solutions, Andriy Lets, head of the project technical support department at Ukrhydroenergo, said.
“A memorandum was signed with Andritz Hydro and MAN Energy Solutions on cooperation in the development and implementation of projects for production of green hydrogen in Ukraine. Today, in a war, this topic is extremely important not only for Ukraine, but for entire Europe,” he said during an Energy Club online discussion “Hydrogen production in Ukraine. Resource base” on Thursday.
Lets expressed his conviction that the signing of the memorandum would launch global processes that would help create a so-called hydrogen hub in our state in the future, with the advent of which Ukraine can achieve real energy independence.
At the same time, it is specified that Ukrhydroenergo, together with Andritz Hydro and MAN Energy Solutions, are considering and carrying out fruitful work on a pilot project for launching a 1 MW electrolysis plant for production of green hydrogen.
“There are many issues in terms of legislation, technical capabilities that are being worked out today,” the representative of the Ukrainian hydro-generating company explained the situation.
According to him, according to the pilot project, we are talking about production of 100 kg of hydrogen per day. At the same time, Lets noted that Ukrhydroenergo has the potential to produce green hydrogen with the use of renewable sources through water electrolysis.
“This is a promising type of energy, which is also important for decarbonization of the economy and Ukraine’s entry into new markets,” he summed up.
ANDRITZ HYDRO, COOPERATION, HYDROGEN, MAN ENERGY SOLUTIONS, PRODUCTION, UKRHYDROENERGO
Ukraine has sufficient resources and capabilities to launch the first hydrogen projects and start exporting hydrogen to Germany by 2024.
President of the Ukrainian Hydrogen Council Oleksandr Repkin said this in a comment to the Green Deal portal, sharing the details of a meeting with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
“Annalena Baerbock is responsible for the entire German climate dialogue in the foreign arena, so the topic of hydrogen is very important for her. At the meeting, we told her that at this stage Ukraine has enough resources and opportunities to launch the first and start exporting hydrogen to Germany projects by 2024,” he said.
Repkin specified that hydrogen will be transported in a mixture with natural gas through the existing gas transmission system.
“We are already ready to transport 10% concentration of hydrogen mixed with natural gas via the GTS. By 2024, subject to modernization, the percentage may be higher. The main thing is to choose an entry point, a place where you can connect to the GTS, and then it will be possible to transport the mixture,” he said.
Earlier, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba also spoke about the plans to start exporting “green” hydrogen to Germany from 2024, but with a caveat “according to the optimistic scenario.”
At the meeting with the head of German diplomacy on January 17, Kuleba once again spoke about Ukraine’s plans to become a key supplier of “green” hydrogen to the EU.
“Ukraine is actively developing renewable energy, in particular, it plans to become a key supplier of “green” hydrogen to the EU. We are strengthening energy partnership with Germany and developing a number of major projects in the production and transportation of “green” hydrogen,” the foreign minister said.
More than 20 Ukrainian companies have entered the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, Deputy Energy Minister for European Integration Yaroslav Demchenkov said.
“More than 20 Ukrainian companies have already joined the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance and, accordingly, the Green Hydrogen Initiative for the European Green Deal 2×40 GW of new hydrogen production capacities,” he said during the First German-Ukrainian Energy Day on Tuesday.
“Considering that the creation of 10 GW of new capacities for the production of ‘green’ hydrogen has been allocated to Ukraine, this imposes certain obligations on us,” Demchenkov noted.
According to him, already in January Ukraine will be ready to present an assessment of the potential for the development of the domestic hydrogen market, including its use in transport, as well as an assessment of the impact of this direction on the environment.
At the same time, the Deputy Minister pointed out that already now there is a portfolio of ten real projects for the development of “green” hydrogen, which can be implemented, including with German partners with the support of European financial institutions.
“We are interested in joint projects with German business,” Demchenkov stressed.
In turn, Pavlo Stanchak, Deputy Director General for Development and Transformation of Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine LLC (GTSOU) said that, having created a decarbonization group, GTSOU is actively exploring the possibilities of the gas transmission system for the transfer of hydrogen and mixtures with it, and is also preparing for a pilot project that will show these possibilities.
According to him, GTSOU has a significant stock of maneuverable capacities for pumping gas, which is several times higher than the needs, and they could be used to transport “green” hydrogen and mixtures.
EUROPEAN, EUROPEAN CLEAN HYDROGEN ALLIANCE, HYDROGEN, UKRAINIAN COMPANIES
SOE National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom has entered the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which was created this summer by the European Commission.
According to a report on the Energoatom website, membership in the Alliance will provide the national nuclear generating company with an opportunity to receive up-to-date information on the development of hydrogen energy in the EU countries and to participate in events aimed at introducing the latest hydrogen technologies.
The accession to the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance was a logical continuation of the company’s course towards the implementation of new promising projects in the field of hydrogen use, acting president of Energoatom Petro Kotin said, quoted by the press service.
“Our goal is to efficiently use the capacities of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, and in a global sense, to root green technologies in the energy sector to combat climate change. Energoatom has undeniable potential to become one of the leaders in hydrogen energy not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe, providing carbon-neutral production of hydrogen at nuclear power plants,” Kotin said.
Acting Energy Minister Olha Buslavets intends to sign in Germany a memorandum on a new energy partnership, providing for the development of hydrogen technologies in Ukraine, said chairman of the Ukrainian Hydrogen Council Association Oleksandr Repkin.
“On August 25-27, head of the Ministry of Energy Olha Buslavets will visit Germany, where it is planned to sign a memorandum on a new energy partnership, of which hydrogen energy is a part. Ukraine is going there to propose certain pilot projects with a scale of 100 MW, similar to the project being implemented in Morocco – a solar-hydrogen plant with a capacity of 100 MW,”Repkin said during an online discussion on the prospects for the development of hydrogen energy in Ukraine, organized by the energy committee of the Ukrainian Venture Capital Association on Tuesday.
He said Germany considered that it would not have enough of its own resources for the production of renewable hydrogen, therefore it considers Ukraine as a partner for obtaining this resource.
He also announced on August 14 the first meeting of the expert working group under the Ministry of Energy under his leadership, at which, in particular, the issue of adapting Ukraine’s energy strategy regarding hydrogen technologies will be considered.
“We are starting concrete steps to keep up with the EU countries,” Repkin said.
He also noted that according to the European Hydrogen Strategy, recently presented by the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, Europe regards Ukraine as a partner, but it is necessary to develop the internal hydrogen market for this.
“In Europe, they see us as a 10GW partner. What does this mean? There is such an opportunity, and they will support us. But there is one thing, which is not spelled out, but it is said. They will support only those countries that create an internal hydrogen market in their country. “Timmermans made it clear: friends, we are ready to help you with 7.5 GW so that you create and import them, but for 2.5 GW you must create your own market,” Repkin said, noting that by the end of 2023, “We are expected to half a million tonnes of import of renewable hydrogen, and in the future – 3 million tonnes annually.”
According to him, in order to enter the European market in Ukraine, conditions must be provided, in particular for the use of hydrogen transport, there must also be the use of hydrogen in the metallurgical and chemical industries.
He said that in Ukraine there is already an example of the construction of the first hydrogen filling station in partnership with the Danes.
“Entrepreneurs from Kharkiv have joined our association. Their idea is to convert all public transport to hydrogen,” said the head of the association.
At the same time, he predicted that the development of hydrogen technologies in the country will proceed more actively than expected.
As reported, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine can become a reliable supplier of hydrogen to the EU, in particular to Germany.
In July, the European Union adopted a strategy for the introduction of renewable hydrogen. It involves the addition of an integrated energy system with a massive industrial production of renewable hydrogen. It can serve as a source of energy where the use of electricity is difficult. In the future, it will be produced mainly using wind and solar energy.
