Hidroelectrica is asking for a consultant to do a feasibility study for the design and construction of a green hydrogen plant based on electrolysis of water from the Olt River, powered by a 300 MW solar park.
The solar and hydrogen facilities will be built on the Olt River, on the site of an unfinished hydropower facility at Hoghiz, in the country’s central region. The project will be implemented in stages.
The first phase entails the construction of a solar park with a capacity of 300 megawatts. The second phase will be for a hydrogen generating facility with a projected output of 15,000 t per year. Hidroelectrica also plans to build a 100 MW hydrolyzer that will use water from the Olt river to create green hydrogen.
The feasibility study and specifications for the complete design and implementation of the solar park and green hydrogen production facility are expected to cost EUR 2,5 million, according to Hidroelectrica, Romania’s largest energy producer.
The feasibility study is expected to cost EUR 2.5 million, according to Hidroelectrica
Hidroelectrica declared in a tender notice issued in Romania’s electronic system for public procurement, SEAP, that the deadline for offers is July 12, 2022. Within a year, the content should be supplied.
Proud Energy Management – solar park and green hydrogen production plant is the name of the project, which entails the gradual completion of the following components of the investment project.
The project is divided into two phases
A solar park with a capacity of 300 MW will be erected in the first phase. It will be built in the old Făgăraş-Hoghiz reservoir basin and will be connected to the National Energy System (SEN).
The generated energy will largely be utilized to power the green hydrogen plant, which will be developed in the second phase of the project, and industrial and household users will be linked to the SEN.
A green hydrogen generation facility is planned for the second phase, with a target production of 15,000 tonnes per year.
The goal of building a green hydrogen power plant from hydrolysis is to use a 100 MW hydrolyzer and water from the Olt River as resources, as well as renewable energy produced in the solar park created in the first phase.
Plans for Hidroelectrica and H2
Hidroelectrica, one of Southeast Europe’s largest corporations, is also engaged in the Blue Danube initiative. Currently, the firm runs 209 plants with a total installed capacity of 6,482 MW.
The Romanian firm, in collaboration with Austria’s largest electricity supplier Verbund, seeks to generate green hydrogen in Romania by utilizing a combination of green energy and large-scale water electrolysis. The hydrogen produced will be sent to the Transnational Danube Interreg nations of Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia, Montenegro, and Serbia, as part of the Transnational Danube Interreg initiative.
Hidroelectrica had a net profit of EUR 263 million in the first three months of this year, up 70% from the same period last year despite a 30% reduction in energy output.
Hidroelectrica is majority-owned by the Romanian government, which owns 80.06 percent of the corporation, while investment fund Fondul Proprietatea owns the remaining 19.94 percent.
