Ukraine and its position on the European Hydrogen Map

Abstract

The European Union is striving to achieve an ambitious goal of becoming the first climate-neutral continent in the world by 2050. On that path, hydrogen is expected to play an essential role as an energy source. Countries worldwide are developing projects to utilize hydrogen in various sectors, such as energy, transport, and industry. Although hydrogen is in an early development phase, the current situation with global warming and ambitious climate targets are pushing countries to act faster with the key stakeholders and market participants. Ukraine is perceived as a “priority partner” of the European Union regarding the supply and transport of green hydrogen to its Member States. The geographical position and the potential for wind and solar power generation in Ukraine are postulated as the advantages in this paper. Additionally, Ukraine has developed natural gas transmission network that potentially could be seen as a transport network for a certain amount of hydrogen. One of the main partners of Ukraine in this field is Germany, which seeks to receive supplies of green hydrogen from this country. Some projects have already been recognized as an important step in implementing the hydrogen strategy. This paper aims to present the potential of Ukraine to become a hydrogen supply and transport country and its importance to European countries. Finally, it intends to describe severe challenges and obstacles on this path, especially after the fullscale armed conflict in Ukraine this year.