Gas power plant projects for which European money is wanted must be able to use hydrogen as fuel, said Dan Dragan, secretary of state in the Ministry of Energy, according to e-nergia.ro.

“I want to send a message – that all the gas power plants that will apply for financing in the next period must be prepared for the use of hydrogen mixed with methane gas. We want in Romania to have a hydrogen strategy, to discuss it with all market players. We will have a first draft in this direction after discussions that will start in the second half of this year,” said Dragan.

He explained that the new gas-fired power plants will be needed to balance the new production capacity that will be installed in the renewables sector.

According to past estimates, in Romania there are new gas plant projects with a total installed capacity of 5,000 MW, many of them being candidates for financing through the Modernization Fund. Dragan said that, according to the latest assessment, Romania would have available, through this Fund, about 9 billion euros and recalled that, according to the Integrated Energy-Environment Plan (PNIESC), the need for investments in the entire energy sector amounts to 22- 23 billion euro.