North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project gets final approval
Ljubljana, 26 July - Slovenia's power holding HSE signed last week a contract on EU funding with the Clean Hydrogen Partnership for the project North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley, which in effect means the six-year project has received the green light. It will be launched in September, HSE said in a press release on Wednesday.
Ljubljana.
A map of North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley, a project developing hydrogen solutions and infrastructure in Slovenia, Croatia and Italy.
Photo: Slovenian power holding HSE
As the lead partner, HSE signed the contract on behalf of all participating countries or regions - Slovenia, Croatia and Italy's Friuli Venezia Giulia, but did not provide any other details.
However, it was said in February that the project received a EUR 25 million grant from the Horizon Europe Programme, and about EUR 354,000 in REPowerEU grant that would go to the Slovenian ministry which coordinates it.
The project brings together 34 organisations and covers the entire hydrogen chain, from production and storage to distribution and end use of hydrogen in various sectors, foremost industry and transport.
Key industrial players will be developing 17 pilot projects at various locations in all three partner states to produce, store and distribute more than 5,000 tonnes of green hydrogen a year.
Of the planned 5,000 tonnes, infrastructure to produce up to 3,000 tonnes of renewable hydrogen a year is planned at the Slovenian thermal power station TEŠ in Šoštanj, north-east.
The goal of the Hydrogen Valley project is to decarbonise key industries such as steel and cement production sectors, to introduce sustainable transport solutions.
"We are proud that this very interesting and promising North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project has been declared one of the best projects in the Horizon Europe call and that we are the lead partner in it," HSE director general Tomaž Štokelj was quoted as saying.
He believes that the planned hydrogen infrastructure at TEŠ will contribute to a just transition from coal to renewables in this region that will phase out coal by 2033.
The concept of hydrogen valleys is a priority of industry and the European Commission to expand hydrogen use and introduce interlinked hydrogen ecosystems across Europe.