A consortium of Romanian and Ukrainian companies are developing a project for producing hydrogen in Ukraine and transporting it via natural gas pipeline to Europe, said Oleksandr Riepkin, Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on Economic Diplomacy and Member of the Board of the Ukrainian Hydrogen Council.
The hydrogen that will be produced in Ukraine will be used by the metallurgical plant Liberty Galati, in Romania.
Riepkin said that transporting one kilogram of hydrogen for a distance of 1,000 kilometers will cost only 0.5 euro. He added that „the global plan” is to build 10 GW of facility for electrolysis in Ukraine.
The hydrogen will be delivered to the Liberty plant via an existing natural gas pipeline, but will also include new pipes that will be built as part of the European hydrogen infrastructure.
According to Riepkin, this project can help Europe’s energy transition especially that countries like Germany of France will not be able to produce enough hydrogen to cover their future needs.
For the success of any hydrogen production project there are three crucial conditions, namely huge renewable energy sources, access to proper water resources, and efficient transportation infrastructure. „I think that for any country […] there are only several places where industrial size hydrogen production can be installed taking all these three factors into consideration”, he said.
Ukraine’s vast renewable energy potential, particularly in wind and solar resources, positions it as a prime candidate for green hydrogen production. Additionally, concerns regarding water scarcity for hydrogen production are addressed through ecological studies, ensuring sustainable utilization of resources without compromising environmental integrity.
Oleksandr Riepkin, Special Envoy of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine on Economic Diplomacy and Member of the Board of the Ukrainian Hydrogen Council, presented the project at the latest edition of Energy Week Black Sea conference held in Bucharest by Invest In Network. Energynomics was a partner of this event and the chief editor Gabriel Avăcăriței moderated the panel dedicated to hydrogen.