EurActiv. Eastern EU states eye adapting existing gas network to hydrogen. Existing gas networks should be repurposed to transport hydrogen and help boost demand, said Michał Kurtyka, Polish Minister of Climate and Environment at an online event about hydrogen in Central and Eastern Europe on Friday (12 February).
“We need to adapt the networks. We need to make sure that the already existing gas infrastructure will be adapted to also transport decarbonised gases, including hydrogen,” he said.

Hydrogen provides a way for coal-reliant Central and Eastern European countries to shift their industry away from fossil fuel. Analysis from the European Commission shows that every €1 billion of investment into renewable hydrogen leads to around 10,000 jobs along the supply chain, said Kadri Simson, the EU’s energy commissioner who spoke at the conference.
Poland is already the third largest producer of hydrogen in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. It has just adopted its energy plan for 2040 and wants one third of its electricity capacity to be green by 2030.
Poland has also launched a hydrogen strategy while Bulgaria has announced it will develop a national roadmap for hydrogen. Slovakia has established a centre for hydrogen technologies and Croatia is preparing a national programme for hydrogen market development.
“Already, we are seeing hydrogen buses in Riga, and there are promising projects on the horizon for hydrogen applications in the maritime sector and even in aviation. So it’s clear the opportunities are there for Central and Eastern Europe,” Simson said.
But the Commission needs to do their homework on regulatory aspects, said Milan Sedláček, head of EU affairs and strategy at Eustream, the gas transmission system operator in Slovakia.
“Please do not be too rigid from the very beginning. These blending and low carbon gases are a low hanging fruit and it has to be for the benefit of everybody,” he added.
Although it is important to develop production for decarbonised hydrogen, the most important thing is to increase the volume and drive down costs, said Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński, Poland’s Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Climate and Environment.
Speakers at the online event called on policymakers in Europe to set aside the debate about the sources of hydrogen production – whether from natural gas or renewable electricity – and focus instead on scaling up production. That means moving away from referring to hydrogen by its colour – grey, blue or green depending on its source – and focusing more on CO2 emissions.
“We shouldn’t be looking at this colours definition, but we should be looking at the CO2 content, which is necessary for the production return,” said Kurtyka, adding that the EU should adopt a technology neutral approach which also embraces low-carbon hydrogen produced from nuclear electricity.
‘Low hanging fruit’: Eastern EU states eye existing gas network for hydrogen, Feb 16, 2021