Oleksandr Riepkin: Modernization of Gas Transmission System will allow Ukraine to become the leader of hydrogen energy in Europe
The Gas Transmission System will help Ukraine gain the status of a key supplier of hydrogen to Europe. Moreover, thanks to the development of hydrogen energy, Ukraine will be able to avoid Russia's gas blackmail and help neighboring countries in this. This position was expressed by Oleksandr Riepkin, President of the Ukrainian Hydrogen Council, in his column for Interfax-Ukraine.
The Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine is already participating in the Central Hydrogen Corridor joint initiative with EU countries, which aims to create a highway to transport "green" hydrogen from Ukraine to Germany via Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
To implement this initiative, Ukraine can use its own Gas Transmission System to transport mixtures of natural gas and hydrogen to Europe. This will not only connect hydrogen producers and recipients, but will also save significant amounts of hydrogen energy.
"In the medium term, according to Energy Storage Europe, the share of hydrogen that can be mixed with natural gas in gas transmission networks will reach 15%. At the same time, according to experts from the Ukrainian Hydrogen Council and Ukrnaftogaz Automatika, which designed part of sections of the Gas Transmission System, our gas transmission system can already transport up to 25% of hydrogen in a mixture with natural gas. The annual capacity of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System is currently 146 billion cubic meters. Ukraine can provide transportation of approximately 35 billion cubic meters of hydrogen to European consumers annually with relatively small investments”, - emphasizes Oleksandr Riepkin.
According to him, so that the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System can transport "green" hydrogen to EU countries, it needs to be modernized. The fact is that this latest type of fuel can be transferred to Europe in different ways - for example, in the form of gas in high pressure containers or in the form of liquid in insulated containers. But the most economically sound method is to transport hydrogen by pipeline, and for Ukraine - the gas transmission system.
"The presence of the Gas Transmission System in the event of its modernization will eliminate the problem of the high cost of new hydrogen infrastructure, which is tentatively estimated at tens of billions of euros. Moreover, we do not need to look for specialists in neighboring countries to modernize the Gas Transmission System - Ukraine has its own. For example, in Mykolaiv works the State Enterprise NVKG "Zorya-Mashproekt" which produces the gas turbines which are already involved in our Gas Transmission System and have demand in the world market works, - explains the president of «Ukrainian hydrogen council».
According to experts, Ukraine can make the first deliveries of hydrogen to Europe in 2024.
Dmytro Kuleba, the Foreign Minister of Ukraine, also stated at a briefing about the importance of creating a highway for transporting "green" hydrogen from Ukraine to Germany. According to him, this is a major European political project that will not only help develop a new industry, but also be able to radically change the distribution of forces and alliances on the European continent. In particular, thanks to him, Europe will be able to avoid gas blackmail from Russia in the future, in which EU countries are particularly interested today.