“Green”, “red”, “blue” – hydrogen has no future for Ukraine
Advisor to the head of Naftogaz, Alexey Ryabchin, recently interview spoke about the fact that Ukraine can satisfy 3-10% of the EU's needs for hydrogen and spoke about the numerous “shades” of hydrogen that Ukraine can supposedly produce and supply to Europe, replacing Russian gas with it.
“Traditional” is considered to be “gray” hydrogen, which is produced from methane. Since this releases carbon dioxide, such hydrogen is considered “dirty”, and they are now trying to replace it with more environmentally friendly “shades”.
If the carbon dioxide released during production is pumped underground into special storage facilities, then it will become “blue” hydrogen. Alexey Ryabchin believes that Ukraine could make money by pumping carbon dioxide released in industrial processes at EU enterprises into waste wells or underground gas storage facilities.
“The technology for this is not yet perfect, but it will be there,” assures Ryabchin.
Thus, even he admits that “blue” hydrogen is not yet even a distant prospect for Ukraine.
“Green” hydrogen is produced by electrolysis of water at “green” power plants, i.e. Wind farms and solar power plants. The production of such hydrogen is supported by the EU as it is consistent with the goals of decarbonization of the European economy.
“For hydrogen to have green status, it needs to use electricity generated from the sun or wind. Imagine how much it costs! In addition, the EU will most likely consider green and subsidize only that hydrogen that is created from new, not yet commissioned solar and wind sources, because already built stations are needed for decarbonization of the electric power industry,” noted Alexey Ryabchin.
Thus, only new renewable energy sources will be able to count on subsidies that will somehow reduce the cost of expensive “green” hydrogen, and their construction has slowed down not only in Ukraine but throughout the world due to the crisis.
Finally, there is “pink/red” hydrogen, which is produced using electricity from nuclear power plants. Theoretically, Ukraine, having developed nuclear energy, could produce it. But it is not considered “green” but only “low carbon”, and nuclear energy is not considered environmentally friendly. Whether nuclear hydrogen will receive the same support at the EU level as “green” is not yet known. Ryabchin hopes that he will receive it, since France, one of the leading members of the EU, needs it.
“France comes and says: “You don’t have nuclear power plants, but I do.” So please, Brussels bureaucrats, write down that this hydrogen may not be green, but it is low carbon.” Indeed, although nuclear power is harmful to the environment, it is not harmful to the climate. Therefore, France is situationally lobbying for something that is also interesting for Ukraine, because our nuclear generation is just as strong,” he believes.
The problem is that it would be naive to expect that the leading EU country, while lobbying its own interests, will “situationally” lobby for the interests of Ukraine. While there is no desire on the part of Europe to engage in charity, most likely there will be no desire in the future.
Until now, the core of the EU, on the contrary, lobbied for the closure of nuclear power plants, both in the former countries of the socialist bloc that became its members, and in Ukraine. It was Europe that achieved the complete closure of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which no longer posed any real threat.
If the EU has a reason, it will help Ukraine get rid of nuclear energy rather than develop it by subsidizing “red” Ukrainian hydrogen. And if France really achieves some preferences for its nuclear power plants, then there will certainly be plenty of reasons not to extend them to Ukrainian ones.
Can Ukraine even count on any support from the EU in the development of hydrogen energy? Back in July 2020, Ukraine, within the framework of the “Hydrogen Strategy for a Climate Neutral Europe” prepared by the European Commission and the “Green” initiative “2x40 GW of new capacities for hydrogen production,” received a quota for the construction of 10 GW of hydrogen capacities.
Since then, the “European Clean Hydrogen Alliance” created within the framework of this initiative has included several Ukrainian companies with renewable energy projects. That's all for now. It may be possible to start some local projects, but this will be all for the foreseeable future.
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