🆕 ❗️Hydrogen Pipeline Agreements for Central and Eastern Europe ✍️

↗️ The significance of #hydrogen for the energy transition marches on. Central and Eastern Europe are closing gaps by contributing to the respective infrastructures. 

🇦🇿🇪🇺 This is also an important signal regarding the upcoming COP29 in Azerbaijan as it connects the host country with the backbone of EU infrastructure for clean hydrogen. 

🇧🇬🇬🇷🇷🇴 The energy ministers of Bulgaria, Greece and Romania signed a Declaration of Intent to develop a series of initiatives which will become the backbone of renewable energy in the region. Meeting in Athens, the three ministers committed that the three countries will cooperate in preparing joint cross-border projects for offshore wind energy, renewable hydrogen and electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the Energy Minister said.

☝️ According to the document, the three countries support and encourage a joint initiative to explore and develop the sustainable use of offshore wind potential in the Black Sea and Aegean Sea. They will apply jointly for cross-border RES status under the current Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) call for proposals.

🇧🇬🇷🇴 The development, together with Romania, of initial exploration in the Black Sea area to define specific parameters for the development of offshore energy zones is one of the leading priorities in the Bulgarian government's programme. 

🇬🇷 By including Greece in the initiative and extending it to the Aegean Sea, it will become possible to map the offshore wind potential of Southeastern Europe and lay the groundwork for the development of a harmonized regulatory framework.

✍️ The Declaration signed by the energy ministers of the three countries also envisages the creation of a regional cluster for hydrogen from renewable energy sources with the participation of the governments, transmission system operators and industry. The countries will seek both cross-border status under the current Connecting Europe Facility call and the possibility of a joint project. The regional cluster will develop cross-border projects to stimulate renewable energy, including wind and solar, to integrate it into a low emission and renewable hydrogen production system for the energy, industrial and transport sectors, and to develop a dedicated hydrogen infrastructure.

🧐 Some background: The ICGB (Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria) gas pipeline connects with the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora. The total length of the gas pipeline is 182 km, the diameter of the pipe is 32'', and it has a design capacity of up to 3 billion m3/year in the direction of Greece and Bulgaria. Depending on market interest for larger capacity and the possibilities of the neighbouring gas transmission systems, the capacity of IGB is designed with the option of increasing up to 5 billion m3/year with the additional construction of a compressor station.

🇦🇿🇹🇷🇬🇷🇦🇱🇮🇹 The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, transporting natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz II field in Azerbaijan.

Connecting with the Trans Anatolian Pipeline at the Greek-Turkish border, TAP crosses Northern Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before coming ashore in Southern Italy to connect to the Italian natural gas network.

👍 The new agreements can build on a previous initiative to cooperate regarding the future hydrogen infrastructure in Central and Eastern Europe.

🇵🇱🇷🇴🇸🇰🇭🇺 In recognition of the green energy transition and the European Union’s emission reduction goals, four Central-European natural gas TSOs (GAZ-SYSTEM of Poland, Transgaz of Romania, Eustream of Slovakia, and FGSZ of Hungary) agreed on a strategic partnership to explore the possibilities of decarbonising their operation, transporting green gases and investigating the potentials in CO2 transmission. The joint Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Budapest  on April 7, 2022.

🇺🇦 All these initiatives will be brought together this year. They would allow to integrate Ukraine massively into the upcoming hydrogen and green gases strategies.