Hydrogen can be used to balance the energy system and in transport, according to the study “Hydrogen – a new chapter of the energy transition”, conducted by the Intelligent Energy Association (AEI).
“If we intend to heat the whole country with green hydrogen, that would mean that absolutely everyone would pay at least 500% more for the costs of that energy, without taking into account the network changes and the changes to the facilities. Also, we’ll have to consume all the water that flows in one year on the main rivers in Romania: Mureş, Olt, Tisa and Siret, that is, all the water in them, we don’t drink, we don’t eat, we don’t irrigate, we obtain enough hydrogen to heat everything that means real estate in Romania,” said Dumitru Chisăliţă, the president of the association, quoted by Agerpres.
In addition, hydrogen is a much more dangerous fuel, the combustion rate is four times faster than natural gas, and the risk of accidents is increased.
Chisăliță does not consider that we will be able to attract European funds to build pipelines to supply people’s homes with hydrogen, although the Romanian authorities hope to attract 600 million euros through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan for such networks.
“There is a Romanian proverb that says that a lie is short legged, I don’t think it’s a good way to go with such ideas. Hydrogen can be what it is recommended to be today: a substance that can decongest electricity networks, where there are congestions and we all know that we have areas where renewable energy is found in large quantities,” went on to say the AEI representative.
According to him, Germany conducted a study which concluded that, instead of building networks that would double the existing networks, using gas facilities would save 12 billion euros.
Hydrogen can solve major imbalances caused by variable consumption and various sources of renewable energy and can also play the role of fuel for heavy transport, sea or river and even air. All this can be done with a minimum condition: professionalism, study, research, which means to understand that hydrogen is a dangerous substance, it is an expensive substance, it is difficult, but it can be mastered and can bring added value if we use it in a smart way,” Chisăliţă added.
