The national hydrogen strategy is under public discussion. At first glance, it can be said that this is a projection of the desire of a person or a group of interests, and not scientific research and analysis.

I know of at least two books written by scientists that should be read by those who scribbled down these beautiful ethereal fairy stories, both published by the Didactic and Pedagogical Bookstore: Hidrogen si Gaze naturale (Ioan Iordache and Dumitru Chisăliță) hydrogen and sustainable energy (Ana -Maria Welcha, Ioan Iordake, Lacramioara Diana Robescu, Diana Mariana Kocarce).

It should be said from the outset that there is only one conclusion to be drawn from these two books: for green hydrogen, that which is produced from renewable energy sources, there is no production technology validated by the market, that is, the one currently in use. Other conclusions: transportation, storage and distribution are expensive, today (in Romania) these infrastructures do not exist.

Decarbonization of some industries that are today’s major consumers of hydrogen can be done at enormous cost. But let’s see what is the current hydrogen consumption in Romania: the available data is for 2021, when 194,000 tons were produced and consumed (page 27). Production facilities are located in close proximity to the consumer to reduce transportation and storage costs. Consumption meant:

But only a small part was obtained from renewable sources (1.51%), the rest – from steam reforming of methane and catalytic reforming of petroleum products.

What does this National Hydrogen Strategy propose? So that in 2024 we have a capacity of 6 GW of electrolyzers, and in 2030 – 40 GW of electrolyzers. Knowing that about 30-33% of energy is lost during electrolysis, this means that in 2024 we should have a surplus of renewable electricity capacity of 18 GW and in 2023 there should be a surplus of capacity 120 GW.

We know that in 2022 Romania a imported 3190 GW and insufficient wind and solar power capacity. The total number of renewable capacities at the moment is 5.4 GW.

Does anyone believe that? Even those who wrote it do not believe and give several quotes:

“Given the still uncompetitive cost of renewable hydrogen production technologies and those with a low carbon footprint, Romania’s energy balance is negative, as of 2019 Romania is a net energy importer (annually); a number of older installations do not perform at par. capacity, so at the moment there is no generation potential that could be directed to hydrogen production. Capacities for transporting the electricity needed for electrolysis are limited. The rate of penetration of solar and wind power into the Romanian market is relatively slow compared to the EU average. There are not enough human resources to work with hydrogen-based technologies. Hydrogen leaks can only be detected by installing special sensors. There is currently no demand for hydrogen. The technology of hydrogen production by electrolysis of water using energy from renewable sources is still uncompetitive from an economic point of view. (p. 29 – 30)

The volumetric density of hydrogen is 3 times lower than that of natural gas, which leads to a decrease in the energy intensity of pipeline transport capacities. The flash point of hydrogen is about seven times higher than that of methane, so it is necessary to adapt industrial processes to the different risks of handling and handling hydrogen. (pages 36 – 37) – Read the entire article and comment on Contribuotrs.ro