#TouchingHydrogenFuture - #Romania
Erik Rakhou
Energy Policies expert | Associate Director BCG | Management consulting | Former member ACER Board of Appeal | Initiator and co-author "Touching Hydrogen Future" | #5 ??thought leader Hydrogen @Illuminem | Podcast cohost
#TouchingHydrogenFuture – tour across the globe in Jules’ Verne style
Short series of stories on global Hydrogen future, written by a group of Hydrogen passionados and energy realists, making concepts accessible to wider audience, allowing both entertainment and education including readers from all continents for whom affordable and clean energy is key.
Imagining the future is delivering it.
How hydrogen will change our lives. Next stop: Romania 2040, an almost utopian day – winning the race for decarbonisation.
Author: Lavinia Tanase. Editors: Erik Rakhou and Rosa Puentes Fernández.
Scenesetting – a great day of EU prize award in 2040
“A dystopia is an imagined community or society that is dehumanizing and frightening. A dystopia is an antonym of a utopia, which is a perfect society.”- I read from a poster in the room. I was reflecting how Romania has become almost a ‘utopia’ in terms of being part of the global hydrogen economy and the energy transition. It was an important day in 2040.
Few hours left until the winner of the “2040 Race for Decarbonisation” is announced; until we learn whether Romania has won the competition with other EU Member States for fastest progress in decarbonisation amongst Eastern European states. “We’ re going to win, we must win”, I say to myself while I park my fuel cell car and start walking towards the “Constanta Casino”, an architectural gem, at the seashore historical port city of Constanta[1]. My smart watch starts beeping announcing me that in 2 hours the winner will be known.
For the past 6 months, after we submitted our final application to the European Commission (EC), we have worked hard to organise a national event to cover the competition and results. It’s a high-stake event aimed at recording the progress from the past 20 years and inspire a push for the future. At the event we wanted to bring together all stakeholders that were deeply involved in the energy transition – from government to the ministry, regulator – Autoritatea Nationala de Reglementare in Energie (ANRE), national gas and electricity TSOs, DSOs, consumers authority, NGOs and associations, prosumers, producers, lenders; in short - everybody along the energy value chain, financing and acting in public energy policy was welcome. We have guests from the European institutions including ENTSOG, ENNOH, ACER, EU-DSO body, EU Clean Hydrogen Alliance[2], EIB.
-???????“Are you nervous?” I ask my colleague, as I enter the door. I see she is madly refreshing the competition’s webpage, in hopes of an early announcement.
?-???????“I’m biting my nails, being nervous, of course. And you? How can you be so sure we even have a chance at winning?”
?-???????While admiring the miniature model of the electrolysers plant built in the nature-rich Dobrogea region[3], close to the Black Sea’s mammoth offshore wind park commissioned in 2030, I respond “Well, how can they not? The criteria for the competition are very objective, and include target number of hydrogen valleys, material contribution to decrease of green hydrogen price and jobs. Romania is ticking all of those criteria. Look at this amazing piece of engineering of almost 4 GW electrolyser capacity built at large, in the Black Sea, somewhere between Constanta and Mangalia. It feeds itself with the wind electricity from the Black Sea windpark. And also, the prize award team and wider European institutions are aware of our progress, since they have been getting our reports every year. We have received close to 20 bln EUR[4] grants and loans to implement all changes to our energy system between 2021 - 2040. We have made sure to use these funds wisely building out the projects from plans to reality, we followed through. I mean, I’m surprised you ask yourself this question - you, as our creative director, helped us put all this in the speech that we have prepared for this presentation.”
?-???????“Sure”, she replied with an almost trembling voice, “but we have begun to use the natural gas from under the Black Sea in 2026 from which we are still producing blue hydrogen with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS)[5]; we are not only producing green hydrogen. Do you think this can be a low scoring point for the jury?”
-???????“Good question, but remember that our initial National Hydrogen Strategy that was issued in 2023[6], and which is the basis for everything that happened afterwards, set some clear objectives for Romania, given its particularities and specifically mentioned that the hydrogen produced locally in the country, cannot only come from renewables, but also from gas, since we have quite some bcms under the Black Sea…everything unfolded after Romgaz took over the contract from OMV Petrom back in 2021…I remember the moment when they declared start of operations in 2026, as it was yesterday. That was a big win for us. If you well remember, in the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) of Romania (approved by the EC in July 2021) one of the objectives was for Romania to draft a piece of legislation that will promote investments in the Black Sea and modify relevant laws. And this happened soon thereafter.”
-???????“You’re diverging from the question” she replies, “we know all this, we inserted this in the application, but…” ??
-???????“Andreea, we do not have time to debate substantive things now, let’s please go over the main points of the speech again” - I interrupt her in an attempt to make sure that we practice delivering our speech impeccably, and thank everyone present for having made this energy transition possible.
My smart watch beeps at the right time – reminding me to go over the main points of the speech which we planned to deliver as a geographical travel through Romania and a time-lapse trip from 2021 until today showcasing the most important developments in hydrogen and for the energy transition..
And so, I begin repeating what I would actually say, about Romania’s journey to be 1 of the leaders of the European hydrogen economy – the birth place to 1000th hydrogen valley in the world
“They say life is not about having, but about being – but having achieved a clean energy transition allows the being to manifest itself. We have moved from a country with the biggest potential to do pretty much anything to an actual decarbonization hub in South East Europe. We can now simply be. Please allow me for a time journey from 2021 to today.
Back in 2021, we were off to a rough start – we did not have a clear strategy for hydrogen, we were lagging behind to a number of other countries globally. We did however have a NECP[7] covering the period up until 2030.
The NECP foresaw an important role for hydrogen in the transport, gas, and power sectors, without introducing clear plans and objectives for the future and lacking a comprehensive framework for the use of hydrogen. In September 2021, the EC endorsed Romania’s National Recovery Plan (NRRP) which outlined plans for a recovery plan for the country, following the disbursement of almost 29.2 billion EUR from the EU’s Recovery Fund in non-refundable funds and loans. Only 41% - around 12 bln was targeted at enabling a clean energy transition and fostering green investments.[8]
Unlike the NECP, in the NRRP hydrogen’s role was emphasised for the energy and transport sectors, with a clear goal “to accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy sector by phasing-out lignite and coal fired-power plants by 2032 and by facilitating the deployment of renewables and alternative energy sources, such as green hydrogen”.
What was very helpful, and at the core of later success of Romania, was one of the clear objectives of the NRRP – so-called Reform 4 - developing a favourable legislative and regulatory framework for future technologies, in particular hydrogen and storage solutions to create the needed legislative and regulatory framework and to remove any administrative obstacles to developing renewable hydrogen, with focus on transport, as well as the gas and electricity sectors.[9]
This Reform 4 - from the NRRP was the trigger for the emergence of the Hydrogen Strategy in 2023. It was such a happy moment to have moved from a puzzle of fragmented initiatives to a unified Hydrogen Strategy for Romania – our opportunity to make informed and comprehensive decisions regarding the future of hydrogen in the country. ??
Truth be told, we were a tad bit late to the momentum that was already created from 2019-2020 when other European countries such as France, Germany and Norway had already published national hydrogen strategies. And this delay seemed to have been caused by the level of confusion among domestic actors about what will exactly be the role of hydrogen in a decarbonised Romanian economy. Even though a potent candidate for the energy transition among other energy sources, hydrogen’s advantages[10] alone cannot yield a decarbonised economy: action must be taken at national policy level. Fairly, results do depend on the developing economics and costs of technology.
And so, what happened after the Hydrogen Strategy was put in place in 2023, you may wonder? I will draw your attention to 9 (nine) key developments and will detail some of them.
1.????The legal and political environment became steady and clear which allowed for the Romanian energy landscape to become attractive for private clean energy investments but also for the exploitation of natural gas resources in the Black Sea (including required attention to mitigating carbon emissions and methane leakages).
2.????We worked hard to arrange funding, made projects submissions, received grants, and followed through with investments on the whole energy value chain to fulfil the national objectives on energy and climate change.
In Romanian we have a saying “God offers you the means but does not hand them out to you” – and this time around we have not sat around waiting for miracles to happen, we have actually made them happen.
From the approximately 12 ?bln EUR investments in the energy sector up to 2030, we have successfully used all the financial instruments that were available at EU level and obtained adequate allocations which enabled us to achieve the energy transition objectives. We have invested massive amounts of Romanian and EU funds money in building new RES capacities (approximately 1 bln EUR[11]) and reinforcing Romania’s status as the country with biggest renewable energy potential in the EU and hosting the largest onshore and offshore wind parks in the EU. We have made investments in interconnections with our neighbours, both in gas and electricity. Level of electricity interconnectivity by 2030 increased with 17% and with 30% by 2040.
3.????We reinforced and modernised our power and gas (including hydrogen storage) infrastructure.
On 31 December 2021 the Government issued an Emergency Ordinance indicating that the national gas distribution systems can be extended via investments from the distributors, third parties and local authorities.[12] This had a major impact on how things later unravelled.
We have invested in the modernisation of gas and electricity grids introducing more digitalisation, as well as additional distribution and storage systems.
Considering that Romania’s natural gas transport system was arguably one of the oldest and least performing in the EU back in 2021, it was a widely known fact that reliance on the existing gas infrastructure was not sufficient and large capital-intensive investments needed to be deployed for new dedicated hydrogen infrastructure. The national gas TSO - Transgaz considered using the then existing methane infrastructure for hydrogen transport and planned to assess the economic and technical feasibility of injecting hydrogen and synthetic methane into the natural gas infrastructure[13].
Storing and managing hydrogen flexibility was a key to resolve, and we did it. The availability of suitable formations to develop storage sites for seasonal hydrogen storage represents an opportunity for Romania and offers it a competitive advantage compared to other Member States. Romania has always enjoyed the perks of having a diverse geographical landscape, and in 2020 DEPOGAZ Ploiesti[14], the unbundled subsidiary of ROMGAZ[15], the biggest Romanian national natural gas producer, was operating underground natural gas storage facilities which could on the medium or long term be used for hydrogen storage subject to further research[16]. Particularly Romania’s inheritance of winning salt over 2000 years, offered opportunity for creating suitable saline storages for hydrogen – similar to Netherlands and Germany[17].??That offered a critical differentiator to Romanian hydrogen trading within Europe.
4.????We have succeeded to create the 1000th hydrogen valley in the world (I noted to stress this in the real speech)
As you may remember, it was announced at the 2021 EU Hydrogen Week of having 1,000 hydrogen valleys by 2040 worldwide and a couple of hundreds in the EU alone.[18]
We have materially contributed to achieving 1000 hydrogen valley’s goals[19], increasing the number of jobs in the hydrogen economy and materially decreasing the production costs of green hydrogen.
We made our bets on producing hydrogen in the country and transporting it to the EU either via emerging European Backbone, or via ships. As studies found[20], it was in some cases cheaper and more secure to produce hydrogen outside Europe, and import it (this depended heavily on transport costs). However, we aimed high and realized we can materially contribute to the production of hydrogen, as a country with a significant renewable energy potential in South East Europe rather than importing from outside the EU. We started exporting hydrogen – to Austria and Germany and beyond, banking on our geography.
We were vibrant as a country and eager to elicit change. Hence, we became involved in a lot of EU IPCEI projects for EU funding for hydrogen.
As an example, the Blue Danube project was a real success, as around 1.5 GWh, or over 80,000 tons of green hydrogen/year are now produced in Romania at competitive prices and shipped to Austria and Germany using Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier technology.[21] Conventional inland waterway vessels, which used to load fossil liquid fuels, were very-well suited for the main logistic routes on the river Danube and could be re-used accelerating the energy transition.[22] See figure below for an impression of the Blue Danube project:
Figure: source Verbund, Blue Danube project overview.
This project was very impressive as it turned Dobrogea[23], one of Romania’s regions close to the Black Sea and the Danube into a hydrogen valley. As a result, we have created around 80,000 jobs for Romanians from 2023 when the Hydrogen Strategy was adopted until today …and we will not stop here.[24] The real number is actually much higher if we consider the implications of the performant Romanian hydrogen economy for the EU contractors and subcontractors. This is important to mention as it was one of the criteria to potentially win the 2040 Decarbonization Race.
What is more, considering the high amounts of hydrogen that we started producing in Romania especially from 2030 in Dobrogea, we have enabled the achievement of the goal of creating liquid and competitive hydrogen markets in the EU. Even though the initial goal expressed by VP Frans Timmermans and Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson to achieve liquidity by 2030 was a bit too ambitious[25], it was achieved later in 2035…we are now in 2040 and we are happy to say that we can trade hydrogen at TTF-Hydrogen, NBP-Hydrogen and SEEH (South East Europe Hydrogen Trading Hub).
5.????We managed to contribute to reducing the cost of production of green hydrogen
When thinking of the cost of green hydrogen, the costs of renewable electricity must be taken into consideration, as the availability and cost of green hydrogen is dependent on renewable energy sources, their price and availability. ?Considering Romania’s extensive local renewable energy potential, and the climate policies of increasing CO2 costs and elimination of free CO2 allowances allocation has allowed that green hydrogen from Romania became more price competitive than grey or blue hydrogen.
Hence, starting with 2030 in Romania hydrogen could be produced for under 2 EUR/kg, in line with EC President Ursula van Der Leyen’s statements.[26]
6.????We stayed colour blind on clean hydrogen but aimed for netzero overall.
In its Hydrogen strategy Romania did not formally move away from blue hydrogen, since it is ?the country with the biggest natural gas reserves and production in the EU, after the Netherlands.[27] Albeit it did focus on green first. And even though it could provide a steady flow of hydrogen for the industry and all other demand areas, blue hydrogen at material scale ?required investments for CCS, whilst offering only 90% capture rates[28] and it could have potentially rendered it non-economical in longer term due to high carbon costs as compared to green hydrogen. Nonetheless, blue hydrogen continued being produced in Romania making use of the sizeable natural gas reserves under the Black Sea from 2026 onwards, enabling top-up flexible hydrogen volumes as green hydrogen was being scaled and became gradually competitive.[29]
7.????We managed to heat our homes with hydrogen and RES, while preserving our forests
I remember the day when in Romania the news of an EU Directive prohibiting the use of wood for home heating from 2023 onwards hit like a comet, as almost half of Romanians used to heat their houses with wood.[30] After some research, it turned out it was fake news, however the NRRP did introduce the extension of the gas network towards the rural areas, that do not have access to any other source of heating and the plan to use other feedstock for heating and cooling from wood.[31]
As a reminder, 2 decades ago, in the built environment of Romania, heating was primarily satisfied through biomass (forest) combustion and district heating, again mostly powered with fossil fuels. Next to wood, in Romania natural gas accounted for over 40% for heating, hence hydrogen was a good alternative in some cases to electric heat pumps in housing for example for older housing stock – and could play a substantial role in decarbonising the heating and cooling sectors. [32] To introduce hydrogen and renewable gases, the national gas distribution had been extended towards the urban and rural areas with little to no access to energy for heating in a number of regions including the Oltenia region[33]. Initially, the NRRP provided for the building of almost 1900 km of gas distribution by 2026 transporting at least 20% green hydrogen produced from the electrolyser’s capacities introduced[34]. This network was envisaged to transport 100% green hydrogen by 2030, which started happening only from 2035 onwards.[35]
Next to hydrogen, other energy sources played a large role in saving forest and greening the heating demand. Individual heating systems – using solar, wind power and geothermal - had been installed instead of using wood. In addition, up to 4200 stationary capacities for high efficiency combined power and heat production (CHP) were switched to green gases, flexible to accommodate abated natural gas as well, in replacement of all lignite and coal capacities by 2026, providing green heating.
8.????We left nobody behind and enabled a just energy transition in the coal-intensive regions of Romania, such as Valea Jiului?
In the NECP, the coal-intensive territories have been at the core of the decarbonization and energy transition plans. Romania faced significant challenges in the energy transition, especially in regard to the reconversion of mono-industrial and carbon intensive regions such as Valea Jiului and Oltenia. The former was included in the European Platform for Coal Regions in Transition, and as a consequence a transition strategy had been developed. Furthermore, the Territorial Just Transition Plans that have been created for 6 of Romania’s counties: Mures, Hunedoara, Gorj, Ploiesti, Galati, Dolj - the plans provided for measures to reskill and upskill the workers in these regions.
Initially, the closing of coal plants was envisaged to happen until 2032, however the Hydrogen Strategy in 2023 prompted this to happen much earlier, in 2026. In order to be able to rapidly replace the closed coal power plant capacities, renewable energy including hydrogen and creating related “just transition” jobs played a key role in supporting the national decarbonization targets.
Romania asked and received large funds from the EU Modernisation Fund to support this transition.
9.????We focused on public and commercial transport as a means to launch hydrogen economy visibly to citizens every day…Constanta, Cluj, Timisoara, Bucharest – hydrogen buses[36]
Romania is a vast country with almost 240,000 km2, hence the transport sector is very important.
An opportunity for hydrogen deployment was seen and used for heavy duty road transport[37] and in the rail sector predominantly, since the maritime and aviation sectors represent only a relatively minor share of energy demand in transport sector in Romania.
As for the passenger cars, hydrogen fuelled cars have been – despite international controversy on the subject – also deployed since in Romania, the citizens need cars with large driving ranges over 500km. Currently, according to the estimations that have been done, the hydrogen refuelling station network in 2040 encompasses around 120 stations, with around 60,000 fuel-cell vehicles on the road.[38] We had very few highways connecting the country, however now we have the highway from Bucharest to Cluj and Oradea – opening the roads for car and freight transport to the west (towards Hungary and further). Another one connecting Bucharest with Suceava, the north part of the country and we are now finishing a direct link to Serbia (Timisoara) with ample electric and hydrogen refuelling opportunity. I am happy to say that last week I managed to drive my fuel-cell powered car from Bucharest all the way to my parents’ countryside farm, close to Iasi, in the north east of the country. There were 3 OMV Petrom refuelling stations on the way which allowed me to refuel my tank, however I did not need it as a full tank’s range at steady speed of 90 km/h is 600 km.
2 decades ago, Romania’s railway sector was still largely dependent on fossil fuels for 57% of its energy use. It has been electrified and now plans for hydrogen fuel cell trains – due to availability of competitive green hydrogen – are being made. I know I am excited to be travelling in the first hydrogen powered train from 2045 onwards.
Next to trains, steps were made on public transport buses. There are now 280 hydrogen buses in the country, spread between Constanta[39], Timisoara, Cluj, Iasi and Bucharest.[40] ?And isn’t it fun to be able to travel around the cities in one of these modern miracles?
领英推荐
Dobrogea – what was the secret spice to the success? Seeking synergies and aiming high.
I am pausing my practice of the speech and am reflecting on why we succeeded in turning Dobrogea into a hydrogen hub. My mind wanders.
The hydrogen produced in Dobrogea using the renewable energy from the large onshore and offshore wind power plants and is exported to Austria and Germany with inland vessels via the Danube. Hydrogen is also used to support Romanian industry (for example steel plant Liberty Galati and the cement factory LaFarge Medgidia).
In Romania, there are significant opportunities for the deployment of hydrogen across sectors, with the largest potential in industry and transport. The truth of the matter was that certain areas simply could not be decarbonised through electrification, and in 2021 the largest demand for hydrogen was in the steel and glass sectors, as well as replacing fossil fuels for producing high temperature heat. An important principle that aligned us with the EU was a correct application of the principle of additionality in the Hydrogen Strategy that we issued in 2023 in which it was stated that only new RES capacities that would not have otherwise been installed should be used for clean hydrogen production. This protected us from the so-called cannibalisation of renewable energy from the electrification purposes.
The Romanian steel sector, although relatively small, was still dependent on a conventional fossil-based steelmaking process. Up to 2030 and beyond, steel making at the Liberty Galati plant became a bit greener, and nowadays the plant uses half green, half blue hydrogen for steel production.
As the Energy Policy Group colleagues predicted back in 2021[41], I realize that the green hydrogen from Dobrogea is used for feeding the municipal district heating systems (Constan?a), with big plans to soon feed at large scale the maritime and aviation transport sectors – ships docking in Ports of Constan?a as well as planes taking off from Mihail Kog?lniceanu International Airport.?
The Port of Constan?a is actually on the verge of becoming a portal for hydrogen export. What is more, the shipyards in Constan?a and Mangaliaare are actively contributing to transforming Dobrogea into a hydrogen hub as the local authorities, together with private companies have created here an extensive knowledge sharing hub and performant work sites where the building and retrofitting of ships that run on clean hydrogen can be done. A couple of days ago, the first long-haul transportation ship entirely built in the Port of Constanta shipyard was commissioned.?
The vision of the Romanian decision makers of transforming Dobrogea into a hydrogen hub happened thanks to the linkages between the offshore wind parks in the Black Sea and the hydrogen value chains; and on the basis that Dobrogea, back in 2021, hosted most of the country’s onshore wind capacities (around 3GW) and manifested the highest renewable energy potential (with an estimated total natural capacity of 94 GW[42]).. By 2030 Romania already had 5 GW of electrolyzers installed, and materially contributed to achieving the 2030 target of 40 GW electrolyzers ?in the EU.[43]
It has taken us almost 20 years to reach the stage where Dobrogea can be called a hydrogen valley, however in the longer term, I do agree that by ?tapping into Romania’s affordable and significant renewable energy potential, Dobrogea can further develop into an even larger-scale, international and export-driven hydrogen valley[44], benefitting from the Port of Constanta, from the Danube Channel and from the country’s natural resources and well-positioned geographical location.
We really made great steps, I turn right back to the speech. It’s time to rehearse the final words.
Final thoughts – utopia became a reality.
"You see, things have changed, life has happened, but we made it happen to our advantage. Did I think back then that all this was a utopia? Yes, I did. I am happy to have been wrong”.
This was the last line I repeated before I entered the stage, we turned off the lights, turned on the big screen and waited for the results from Brussels to come in, any moment now… the public was nervous, but we were very hopeful to win.
[journey to be continued]
Disclaimer:
The opinions expressed are purely those of the authors and in no case can they be considered as an official position of the organizations.
The information presented here is based on available public information from announced projects. In any case can be considered a guarantee of what may or may not happen in the future. The author(s) reserve(s) the right to include additional fictional projects or features for the solely purpose of this story.
This is just the beginning of a potential book that we are planning to write. The book would consist of several chapters, each of them highlighting how life would be in different countries if the current announced H2 projects/H2 valleys/IPCEIs had developed. The purpose of the book is mainly educational.
As this is a proof-of-concept, we appreciate your honest and constructive feedback.
References:
[4] This is an author’s estimate; readers are welcome to challenge. The author based this on augmenting projections of support by EU beyond 2030, using double digits of billion EUR support which Romania can receive under the recovery funding until 2030 (both grants, and competitive loans). See further discussion in the chapter.
[5] See https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Blue-hydrogen-as-an-enabler-of-green-hydrogen-the-case-of-Germany-NG-159.pdf
[6] The hydrogen strategy is being developed (January 2022 status). So here and further statements in regard of strategy are an author’s assumption for purposes of storytelling. See disclaimer. See Hydrogen law and regulation in Romania | CMS Expert Guides; See https://www.energetika.net/eu/novice/articles/romania’s-hydrogen-strategy-to-be-ready-by-early-202
[7] National Energy and Climate Plan.
[9] NEW CID ANNEX ROMANIA RRF 13 09 2021 (gov.ro), Reform 4, Page 158.
[10] See e.g., IRENA. Hydrogen: A renewable energy perspective (irena.org)
[11] Romania’s NRRP, as approved by the EC, ?provided that the country will ?receive 29.2 bln EUR for all sectors. 41% of this amount to be targeting a clean energy transition, while only approximately 1 bln EUR will be dedicated for clean energy production component. https://balkangreenenergynews.com/romania-allocates-eur-3-9-billion-from-eu-recovery-funds-to-zero-carbon-railway/
[12] https://e-nergia.ro/prosumatorii-vor-avea-parte-de-compensare-cantitativa-oug-adoptata-azi-ce-a-comunicat-ministerul-energiei/?fbclid=IwAR3FfSPamQslJsP_1S75SZMbLLMGbV2twkSUaXfi08BGsfLr0nW5dmT_FM8 ?
[13] Authors remark - In Romania, about half of the distribution network was made up of polyethylene, this distribution part could be relatively competitively converted to hydrogen (as e.g. UK research experience showed - Conversion of the UK gas system to transport hydrogen - ScienceDirect).
[16] See e.g. slide 4, PowerPoint Presentation (unece.org)
[17] See (PDF) Hydrogen underground storage in Romania, the potential, actors and relevant circumstances (researchgate.net)
[18] https://www.fch.europa.eu/event/european-hydrogen-week-2021#:~:text=The%20second%20edition%20of%20the%20European%20Hydrogen%20Week%20will%20take,and%20the%20FCH%20JU%20Awards.
[20] https://static.agora-energiewende.de/fileadmin/Projekte/2021/2021_11_H2_Insights/2021-11-18_Slides_Agora_12_insights_on_hydrogen.pdf
[22] https://www.verbund.com/en-at/about-verbund/news-press/press-releases/2020/11/17/greenhydrogenbluedanube ?
[23] Dobrogea, polul de energie regenerabil? al ??rii. Cum poate ca?tiga pariul pe hidrogen verde | Digi24
[24] The IEA estimates that 7.2 jobs are created for each EUR million spent on investments in the hydrogen value chain.
[25] As mentioned by Kadri Simson, Commissioner for Energy DG Ener on 15 December 2021 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/SPEECH_21_6910
[26] https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/lets-reach-for-the-stars-eu-aims-for-green-hydrogen-below-e2-kg-by-2030/
[28] IRENA 2020
[29] https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/romania-will-start-extracting-gas-from-black-sea-in-2026-minister-says/
[30] Component 6 Energy, Section F.3, Reform 6 ‘Increase in competitivity and decarbonization of the heating-cooling sector’ https://mfe.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/e6f28710212d5a2d963ba440ce587a99.pdf
[32] https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/news/heating-homes-with-hydrogen-fails-on-economic-and-climate-merit-report/ https://www.fch.europa.eu/publications/opportunities-hydrogen-energy-technologies-considering-national-energy-climate-plans ?
[33] Component 6, Reform 6, Investment 2 – page 189 NRRP
[34] Author’s note on context. In 2020, in Romania, only one out of 3 homes had access to the gas distribution network: out of 320 cities, only 246 have access to the national gas distribution network, whereas out of almost 2600 communes, only 675 enjoyed access to this infrastructure.
[35] Component 6, Investment 2 of NRRP https://mfe.gov.ro/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/e6f28710212d5a2d963ba440ce587a99.pdf
[36] Dobrogea, polul de energie regenerabil? al ??rii. Cum poate ca?tiga pariul pe hidrogen verde | Digi24
[37] In 2021, Romania′s road transport sector was strongly dependent on fossil fuels and hydrogen seemed one of the solutions that could be deployed to decarbonise energy use in this sector, especially in heavy-duty road transport, which represented approximately 34% of the energy use in road transport.
[38] The initial NRRP estimations were 30-80 stations for 19 000 - 41 000 fuel cell vehicles on the road, by 2030.
[40] Opportunities for Hydrogen energy technologies considering the National and Energy Climate Plans – Romania, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, Jul 2020.
[43] As per EU’s Hydrogen Strategy from July 2020. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/hydrogen_strategy.pdf . This is an incredible achievement, as the NRRP in 2021 portrayed as an audacious plan to install green hydrogen production capacities (electrolyzers) of at least 100 MW, producing at least 10,000 tonnes of hydrogen from renewable sources by 31 December 2025.
[44] As per the EPG study Clean Hydrogen in Romania Elements of a Strategy, Dec 2021