Organized on the 25th of November 2021, by the World Energy Council / Romanian National Committee (WEC/RNC) in partnership with Future Energy Leaders Romania the World Energy Council/Romanian National Committee Youth Program, the conference took place in the context of the implementation of the COP21 Agreement in Paris, on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, an important goal of the European and global energy community. Under the Agreement, all EU member states must draw up Actions Plans and Strategies for the implementation of the objectives of the European Green Pact and the FIT for 55 package.
Representatives and specialists of the Romanian energy and hydrogen field initiated a dialogue in order to identify the objectives, topics of interest, concerns in the field and the best measures to be proposed for the Action Plan and the elaboration of the Romania’s Hydrogen Strategy.
From the conference discussions we can highlight the following topics and conclusions:
- Hydrogen will become the future of energy sources in the coming decades.
- It is not a raw material such as oil, gas or coal, but rather an energy carrier and has a holistic approach.
- Today, hydrogen is seen as a solution for production, storage, transportation in decarbonisation processes and is expected to represent 20 – 20% of energy carriers by 2050.
- Romania could be found in Europe as a key factor at European level in hydrogen production and can be a hub for hydrogen.
- The development of hydrogen production and the use of fuel cells is in the attention of the Ministry of Energy and current projects will be prepared for the use of natural gas mixed with hydrogen.
- On June 30, 2021, the “birth certificate” of hydrogen was issued in Europe, through the concept of climate neutrality. Hydrogen will have an important share in all industrial fields.
- The chemical industry can produce “clean” hydrogen. Romania has the chance to become an important player in the EU Hydrogen Market.
- All economic sectors can benefit from hydrogen production, as it can solve congestion problems in electricity networks.
- The Hydrogen Action Plan will have to be an intersectoral coordination plan as it includes Energy Field (at least RES, Nuclear and Natural Gas), Industry (consumption of industrial Oxygen), Health (consumption of Medical Oxygen), Transports. This very closely linked and correlated industrial chain will need a unitary coordination, any disorder of one field affecting all the others.
- The conference also presented the main ideas of the Study prepared by the World Energy Council – Europe – “Decarbonized Hydrogen Imports into the European Union- Challenges and Opportunities” which, among other issues, revealed that the economic sustainability of the Hydrogen market in the EU depends on the coordination of Member States and its integration into national energy strategies.
