As you know, by 2050 the EU plans to completely stop using fossil fuels in energy and reduce CO2 emissions to zero. One of the energy resources, which is of great importance in the future energy balance, is green hydrogen.
Ukraine is one of the countries that may become key EU partners in the energy sector in the future, in particular in the production and supply of hydrogen. Therefore, for the first time in Ukraine, the Regional Gas Company, together with Ukrainian scientists, has launched a large-scale study of Ukrainian networks on the possibility of transporting hydrogen or its mixtures instead of gas.
The research will last until 2022. During this time, scientists have to answer several key questions. In particular, what materials can be used to build networks that will be suitable for transporting hydrogen, what the optimal mixture of hydrogen and methane is in terms of safety and efficiency. And the most important task is to develop a roadmap for network transformation.
The project funding is about one million euros. The research is conducted exclusively by Ukrainian scientists – representatives of four Institutes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (the Gas Institute, the Electric Welding Institute, the Institute of Physics and Mechanics and the Coal Energy Technology Institute), as well as Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Lviv Polytechnic National University and state enterprise «Ivano-Frankivskstandartmetrology».
Scientists rely on the results of research conducted in the United States and EU countries, but the materials and the state of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System, as well as household appliances differ from those that had already been studied. Equipment for mixing hydrogen and natural gas in dynamic modes, and methodical materials for checking metrological equipment have already been developed for the research.
The results of the project should be the development of recommendations on the permissible, from the point of view of safety and efficiency, concentration of hydrogen in the gas-hydrogen mixture, the development of recommendations for the reconstruction of the gas distribution network, as well as proposals for the development of regulations on the use of hydrogen.