Romania

Country: Romania

Document type: National Strategy

Title: National Hydrogen Strategy and Action Plan 2023-2030 (draft for consultation)

Released: June 2023

Summary Points:

The draft strategy lays out a detailed action plan for 2023-2030, which is summarised in four key general objectives (with each general objective having specific objectives that contribute to the achievement of the general objective):

• Avoiding, by at least 2.9 million tonnes of CO₂, carbon emissions in 2030, by using green hydrogen and clean hydrogen in the industrial sector, as well as by using green hydrogen in the transport sector and energy sector.
• Creating the conditions required for the production of at least 137,000 tonnes per annum of green hydrogen and 3,000 tonnes per annum of clean hydrogen in 2027, and 282,000 tonnes per annum of green hydrogen and 7,000 tonnes per annum of clean hydrogen in 2030, in order to develop the industries that are difficult to decarbonise and to develop a clean transport sector.
• Developing hydrogen technologies and implementing them in the economy by training human resources and supporting research, innovation and technology transfer activities and infrastructure.
• Using hydrogen and Power-to-X solutions to integrate renewable energy sources and achieve sectoral integration.

Consistent with the above emissions reduction objective in 2030, the draft strategy includes a best hydrogen consumption scenario of approximately 289,000 tonnes, with the main use applications being (in order of forecast consumption) transportation, blending into natural gas for new CCGT projects, use in existing industry, and use of green hydrogen in new industrial applications to produce steel (targeted emissions reductions are highest in transport and steel).

This best consumption scenario requires approximately 4 MW of electrolysis capacity, requiring the installation of approximately 8 MW of renewable electricity generation capacity.

The draft strategy also identifies five potential hydrogen ‘hubs’ or ‘valleys’ for Romania.

Romania’s Recovery and Resilience plan allocates €1.2 billion of reforms and investments to support clean energy production, which includes support for hydrogen deployment.

In August 2022, the European Commission approved under EU state aid rules a Romanian scheme targeting renewable hydrogen production worth €149 million. The scheme is aimed at supporting the construction of new installations for the production of renewable hydrogen, to achieve by 31 December 2025 renewable hydrogen production capacities of at least 100 MW in electrolysis installations producing at least 10,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.

In July 2023, media reports indicated that the Romanian parliament had adopted a new law on the integration of hydrogen from renewable and low-carbon sources in the industry and transport sectors; as reported, it establishes obligations on fuel suppliers to provide fuels from renewable sources and sets minimum percentages of hydrogen from renewable sources in fuel used in Romania.

 

January 2024