Hungary paves the way for the construction of a hydrogen economy
Hungary's national hydrogen strategy contributes to achieving its decarbonization goals.
The strategy will pave the way for the construction of a hydrogen economy, thus contributing to the achievement of decarbonization goals.
The government aims for Hungarian industry to use almost 25,000 tons of hydrogen produced annually with green and other low-carbon technologies by 2030, a local newspaper writes.
Today, most hydrogen is produced from natural gas, including in Hungary, which results in 70-100 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year globally.
The goal is to reduce these emissions and make hydrogen-using industries greener, said Ottó Toldi, head of research at the Institute of Climate Policy (Klímapolitikai Intéze). He further explained the environmental problems surrounding the production of hydrogen.
At present, about 160,000 tons of hydrogen are produced in Hungary every year from natural gas. Two-thirds of this is used for ammonia production and the rest is used for petroleum refining and the chemical industry, the expert said.
The strategic goal is to produce about 20 percent of this 160,000-ton volume with a low-carbon footprint in a decade.
On the one hand, this would mean the production of 20,000 tons of so-called hydrocarbons, which are also based on natural gas, but the harmful greenhouse gases produced are separated and then stored or recycled. The rest would be thousands of tons of more entirely “green” hydrogen, produced either in a nuclear power plant (100 percent carbon-neutral) or using renewable energy sources. Due to this transformation of hydrogen production in Hungary, ammonia, as well as petroleum and chemical products, could be among the first products to become more environmentally friendly, he said.
Hydrogen can also play an important role in storing the excess electricity produced by solar panels, while carbon emissions from gas heating could be reduced by mixing hydrogen into natural gas, Toldi said.
The long-term goal is to have fossil-based hydrogen completely removed from the system by 2040. In 2050, when Hungary becomes climate-neutral, the whole system would be completely environmentally friendly, he concluded.
