The Hydrogen Valley Project Will be Extremely Important for Croatia
The participants of the Poslovni dnevnik panel stated that, in general, green hydrogen as an energy source should be intended for large vehicles, such as ships and trucks, but also for industry.
One of the important energy sources in the energy transition of Europe and Croatia will be hydrogen. The Northern Adriatic Hydrogen Valley project, in which Croatia, Slovenia and Italy are participating, aims to produce five thousand tons of hydrogen annually from renewable sources and to implement its use in several sectors, primarily in industry and transport.
Unlike other renewable energy sources, hydrogen could be Croatia’s opportunity, according to Igor Grozdanić, an independent expert from Turbomechanika.
“It is in hydrogen that we could catch the train and be a leader in the region, because of all the renewable energies and technologies in hydrogen, we are the least behind Europe.
The opportunity opens up because we have consumers in industry and the need for decarbonization in transport”, says Grozdanić from the panel of the Green Transition conference of Poslovni dnevnik, where it was discussed whether the use of hydrogen is “just around the corner” or just a distant future.
Nevertheless, the development and application of this energy source is still in its infancy, although Europe in all its strategies, including through the Green Plan, gives it great importance.
For Croatia, the mentioned Hydrogen Valley project, which is financed by the Obzor program with 25 million euros, and will last until 2030, will be of exceptional importance. Ana Odak, member of the Gitona Kvarner Management Board and president of the MARINN cluster, a cluster that brings together companies, scientific and research institutions and NGOs, some of which participate in the Hydrogen Valley project, says that private investments of more than 200 million are expected as part of that project euros. Gitone Kvarner itself is also developing a project within the Hydrogen Valley, the first hydrogen-powered passenger ship to sail the Adriatic Sea.
The participants of the Poslovni dnevnik panel stated that, in general, green hydrogen as an energy source should be intended for large vehicles, such as ships and trucks, but also for industry. “Transportation will be the initial market and we see significant market interest,” says Dalibor Sokolović, Director of New and Sustainable Businesses from INA. He also stated that significant amounts of hydrogen are already being used in industry, including INA, which is its biggest consumer. However, we are talking about gray hydrogen that is produced from natural gas, and the intention is to replace it with green, that is, that from renewable energy sources.
