The sudden transition to the exclusive use of green hydrogen puts Romania at risk of becoming only a market for the sale of carbon certificates, and this will have the effect of increasing the level of energy poverty. In order to avoid these risks, Romania must use all the primary energy resources at its disposal, including natural gas and nuclear energy, as a transition fuel in the production of hydrogen.

“Nuclear energy is important because the sudden transition to the use of only green hydrogen could turn Romania into a country that will only buy certificates, and this may lead us to a risk of being energy poor in the future. I think the transitional period is important”, said Oana Ozmen, PNL deputy and secretary of the Commission for Industries and Services in the Chamber of Deputies, at the conference “Hydrogen Project – what we have in Romania”, organized by Energynomics.

A group of 18 parliamentarians initiated two years ago consultations on the drafting of a bill to regulate hydrogen production, Romania being, according to Ozmen, “among the first countries that try to regulate the hydrogen market”.

According to Ozmen, this law is necessary to boost the market and stimulate investment especially in projects that aim to produce green and low-carbon hydrogen.

The initiators of the legislative project opt ​​for the production of hydrogen using nuclear energy and the conversion of methane gas, but “it seems that today the EU only wants to use green hydrogen”. However, nuclear power is an essential component, at least during the transition period.

For the moment, the hydrogen use targets provided in the project are, according to Ozmen, “reasonable” and start from 0.5% starting in 2025, to reach 4.5% in 2030.

“There is a fear related to the green energy targets, but it remains to be seen if they will remain the same or if they will involve changes,” said the deputy.

The conference “Hydrogen Project – what we have in Romania” was organized by Energynomics with the support of our partners Aplind, Delgaz Grid, Horváth, Photomate and Transgaz.