A memorandum of agreement has been agreed between Kiev and Brussels. The strategy also includes nuclear power, biomethane, steel, and fertilizers. However, the objections (and criticisms) are plentiful.
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| Gas pipeline map of Ukraine |
Ukraine serves as a massive hydrogen store for Europe without Russian gas and oil. This is the idea that was unveiled in Kiev as part of the conference between European Commission and former Soviet leaders. A strategy that must deal with a continuous conflict, challenging post-war rebuilding, and the Ukrainian administration's fundamental problems. However, the EU has also been accused of greenwashing and neocolonialism.
It is nothing new for Brussels to regard Ukraine as a "priority" partner for the delivery of sustainable power and energy. Even before Russia's invasion, Kiev was included in the EU's efforts to diversify its energy mix through hydrogen and biofuels. The conflict definitely disrupted negotiations and has damaged 40% of the country's energy infrastructure to date. However, in parallel with the Ukrainian army's military successes, and in light of the start of reconstruction projects, Brussels has taken up the dossier again, signing a memorandum of understanding for a "strategic partnership on biomethane, hydrogen, and other synthetic gases" at its recent summit in Kiev.
The EU mentions Ukraine's "huge potential" for "sustainable renewable energy generation" in the text. A mostly untapped potential: in 2019, the country's principal energy source was around one-quarter coal, one-quarter gas, 21% nuclear energy, and 13% oil and petroleum products. Renewable sources provided for slightly more than 4% of the total. Hydrogen would be the key to decarbonizing Ukrainian energy production and making it a reservoir for the rest of the continent.
Prior to the invasion, Ukraine planned to generate up to 10 GW of hydrogen production capacity by 2030, with 7.5 GW earmarked for sale to the EU and the remainder for internal use. The European Commission's Vice-President, Frans Timmermas, who is in charge of Europe's Green Deal policy, agreed on a Recovery plan for Kiev that focuses on energy and better specifies the likely developments of the pact.
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| Expected invested in the energy sector of Ukraine according to Ukraine's Recovery Plan |
The plan is part of the renewables programs, with the goal of increasing Ukrainian solar power to 20 Gw (about what Italy has now), and wind power to 8 Gw by 2030. Ambitious aims, but they clash with a geopolitical issue: the majority of the renewable energy potential, as noted by Oleksandr Riepkin, head of the Ukrainian Hydrogen Council, is found in the country's east and south, i.e. in Russia-occupied territory. For this reason, the first large projects under Timmermans' proposal might rely on gas and nuclear power, the two sources of "transition" that the EU has allowed in its green taxonomy despite a thousand debates, thus saving the planet.
Blue hydrogen is created from gas that has been "cleaned" of Co2 and may be injected into the current gas pipeline network connecting Ukraine and central Europe. A proposal that appears to pique the attention of Germany, the primary market for these pipelines: "The German government has nationalized significant natural gas resellers who may be crucial partners in establishing agreements to create market security," according to Timmermans' idea. The Green hydrogen @ Blue Danube project, which involves the generation and transportation of hydrogen across the Danube, is also based in Berlin.
France, on the other hand, appears to support Timmermans' plan's projects on clean hydrogen from nuclear sources: "The vast possibilities of Ukrainian nuclear electricity production could contribute to significantly lowering the cost of clean hydrogen production - continues the plan - Approximately 30% of overall capacity could be converted to direct hydrogen production."
But the hydrogen industry does not end there. There is the induced activity represented by the ammonia created during its construction: "Ukraine has a robust infrastructure for ammonia, which was formerly utilized for Russian manufacturing," the proposal says. It is anticipated that at least "5 million tons of ammonia may be generated directly in Ukraine" and delivered "either as a carrier" of hydrogen or "as a raw material for fertilizers and the like".
The chapter on "biomethane for direct use or hydrogen synthesis" follows. Ukraine "has historically been one of the world's major food producers - it continues - Because exports have been harmed by the conflict, foodstuffs produced cannot be sent to markets. A temporary solution would be to use them to produce biogas and biomethane, which would then be pumped straight into existing pipes. A total of ten billion cubic meters is conceivable. This might possibly be a hydrogen source."
Finally, in order to minimize the use of coal in steel mills, Europe is focused on DRI technology, which uses hydrogen and iron minerals (pellets) to make pre-reduced coke. This method, for example, is critical to the decarbonisation of the old Ilva in Taranto in Italy. "Ukraine, according to the plan, has considerable natural deposits of iron ore, which are concentrated in the south-central and eastern areas. Ukrainian steel manufacturing may transition to DRI technology, which uses hydrogen to reduce iron ore. This would aid to the large decarbonisation of European steel production and would provide instant additional value also by exporting reduced pellets to be specialized in Europe".
Timmermans' idea looks to be consistent with Ukraine's intentions revealed at last month's Lugano summit on reconstructing the nation. Hydrogen absorbs $40 billion of the $114 billion offered by Kiev to foreign partners for the energy transformation, accounting for electricity generation and transportation infrastructure. Renewable energy will receive $15 billion, gas production will receive $18 billion, and the nuclear sector will receive $14 billion.
For the time being, the EU has responded to Kiev's requests by allocating 18 billion euros in aid and including Ukraine in European investment programs such as RePowerEU, the grand plan launched by Brussels in the aftermath of the Russian invasion, and that it should support the bloc's ecological transition. A project that has recently been expanded to include Kiev.
However, before capital flows into the country, the limits of an administration that is still dealing with high levels of corruption must be resolved: recent scandals have demonstrated this, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has responded firmly and quickly to send a strong signal to the EU on the seriousness of the country's commitments in this regard.
Dreams of hydrogen intersect with a slew of objections that, for the time being (out of respect for the Ukrainians' suffering in the war), remain on the sidelines but may gain traction in the future. For example, some, such as the environmental NGO EcoAction, accuse Brussels of greenwashing at the expense of Ukraine: the plan focuses on exports to the EU (even when it comes to steel and agricultural products), overlooking the fact that hydrogen production should primarily serve to decarbonize internal energy consumption, rather than that of Europeans.
Connected to this accusation is the one made by Corporate Europe, an NGO that fights for the transparency of EU decision-making processes: "By grabbing the electricity produced from renewable sources that Ukraine desperately needs - he writes - the The EU would strengthen neo-colonial economic relations" by perpetuating, as is allegedly happening in North Africa, a "neo-colonial energy model based on the exploitation of the countries of the southern hemisphere". In actuality, the exporting nations' economic and energy demands would be subordinated to an export activity at the service of the gas sector and the richest European governments.
Source: TODAY.IT