Delgaz Grid, a member of the E.ON Romania group, is starting this month in the town of Gornești, Mureș county, the tests with domestic customers to check the operation of indoor installations and existing appliances with a mixture of natural gas (80%) and hydrogen (20%).

For this purpose, the company has selected several dozen customers who live in the town of Mures and who will thus be among the first Romanians to participate in this project of national importance for the future of sustainable heating in Romania. Gorneşti thus becomes the first locality with a steel natural gas distribution network where such tests will be carried out, while Dârlos, from Sibiu County, is the first locality where tests have been carried out on a polyethylene network.

“Our project puts Romania on the map of countries that are taking concrete steps in using hydrogen as a fuel for a sustainable future in the fields of heating, transport and industry. I am glad that in the stages we have gone through so far, we have benefited from openness and support from the authorities and especially from our customers who have agreed to participate in the tests. Dârlos and Gornești will remain in the history of energy as the first towns in Romania where the use of hydrogen mixed with natural gas was tested,” said Cristian Secoşan, the general director of Delgaz Grid.

“We will check the operating parameters of the appliances and measure the concentration of combustion gases. Later, we will do the same when returning to natural gas, to assure the customer that the appliances have not been affected in any way by the mixture used. The tests last a few hours, and after their conclusion, the supply of natural gas from the network will be resumed,” added Dr. Cristian Călin, Technical Gas Manager, project coordinator.

At the end, Delgaz Grid specialists will once again carry out a check of the natural gas installation, including the appliances, to ensure that everything is working perfectly. The company will bear both the cost of both checks and the utilities needed to perform the tests: natural gas, water, electricity.

In the town of Dârlos in the county of Sibiu, tests were completed at the homes of the 50 selected customers, the results being as expected, namely all the appliances working without any problem with a mixture of natural gas (80%) and hydrogen (20%). The company is starting preparations for the last part of the 2nd stage in this locality, namely the testing of the mixture of natural gas and hydrogen by introducing it directly into the natural gas distribution network.