Germany eyes Ukrainian green hydrogen: Naftogaz CEO
Germany is interested in importing green hydrogen from Ukraine, the head of Ukrainian national gas company Yuriy Vitrenko told local television on July 17.
Vitrenko said the matter was discussed during talks this month between Ukraine and Germany in Berlin.
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"In Ukraine there are really huge opportunities for the development of renewable energy including sun, wind and biomass," Vitrenko said. "Therefore, they want us to produce renewable energy, which in the form of green hydrogen, produced from green energy, would be transported to Germany, where it would be consumed as energy."
Pilot projects were discussed with specific German companies, he said. A series of meetings will be held between the two sides on how to establish a supply chain for the hydrogen.
Ukraine has significantly expanded its renewables capacity in recent years, with large thanks to support from EU financiers and policy advisors that enabled it to bring in more investment. The country had 7,331 MW of solar capacity in operation at the end of last year, up from a mere 188 MW in 2011. Its wind capacity has meanwhile grown to 1,402 MW from 146 MW in 2011.
German-Ukrainian talks in Berlin were mostly focused on Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which Kyiv complains could rob it of billions of dollars in annual transit revenues and poses a risk to EU energy security. German chancellor Angela Merkel also met with US president Joe Biden on July 15, where the two leaders agreed that Ukraine should remain a transit route for Russian gas.