After the French fund, a new “suitor” of similar status is reportedly approaching Hellenic Hydrogen for a minority stake in the green hydrogen production unit under development in Amyntaio, the company’s CEO, Dimitris Triantafyllopoulos, said in a recent interview on Naftemporiki TV.
According to sources who spoke to “N” on the topic, the course of the discussions is independent of the process of making the final investment decision for the unit, which recently, as “N” has reported, received the “green light” from the Just Transition Fund for financing a total of 20 million euros, an amount that will cover 1/3 of the investment, with the total project budget at 60-70 million euros.
The two ‘approaches’ for participation in the project concern, as competent sources pointed out, purely investment moves, without discussions taking place for active participation in its technical part, which, as it seems, is not sought by Hellenic Hydrogen.
The expansion of the project’s shareholder structure with one or two funds, the newest of which is said to be from the region, to even Greek interests, further “establishes” the viability of the investment, confirming at the same time that the Greek hydrogen market is attractive, despite the “immaturity” of the case, which of course does not concern only Greece, but the hydrogen market as a whole at a European level.
It is recalled that the project named “North-1” concerns the development of a 50-100 MW Electrolysis unit (with a development capacity of 200 MW) in a decommissioned lignite production unit in the region of Western Macedonia.
The investment has already been maturing for a year and a half, with the next steps, as mentioned above, concerning the final investment decision by the shareholders of Hellenic Hydrogen – a joint venture between PPC and Motor Oil – within the next few months. The aim is for the project to be completed by the end of 2027.
The usefulness of hydrogen lies in the decarbonization of sectors of the economy that are unable to “move” to the “green shore” through electrification, such as refineries, fertilizers and steel, the so-called hard to abate industry.
Decarbonization
On its part, Hellenic Hydrogen, taking into account the Greek reality, focuses mainly on the refinery sector, where green hydrogen can play an important role in their decarbonization, as well as in the sector of alternative or “green” fuels, such as synthetic ammonia, synthetic methanol and synthetic aviation fuel, which require green hydrogen to be produced.
On this basis, Triantafyllopoulos noted, a solid value chain from production to consumption can be created, which in turn can give impetus to additional similar investments, as well as form the basis for “larger ventures”, such as the production of green hydrogen in Greece and its export to neighboring countries and Central Europe, where the needs are estimated to be particularly high.
In any case, as the CEO of Hellenic Hydrogen emphasized, a comprehensive national hydrogen strategy is required, which will provide the necessary visibility to the sector and bring the country to similar levels of maturity as other countries, such as Spain and Portugal, which are leading the relevant European “race”.
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