A Croatian refinery is set to use green hydrogen to partially decarbonise its processes as a US electrolyser manufacturer inks a new 10MW supply deal.
Engineering and construction firm IVICOM selected Californian-based Ohmium to supply 10MW of PEM electrolysers to build a green hydrogen plant at INA’s Rijeka Refinery.
New solar installations will be used to power the electrolysers and supply green hydrogen to replace grey hydrogen currently used in the refinery’s operations, while also supplying “sustainable fuel” to Croatia’s market.
Hydrogen is a crucial element in refining processes, enhancing the quality of petroleum products and enabling the processing of various types of crude oils. Currently met through fossil-based grey hydrogen, the IEA in 2023 estimated around six million tonnes of low-emission electrolytic hydrogen could be used in refineries in 2030.
Read more: Refineries to use six million tonnes of low-emissions hydrogen by 2030, reports IEA
Arne Ballantine, CEO of Ohmium, said the electrolyser installation at the Rijeka Refinery will be a “premier example” of the green transition in Europe.
He claimed the firm’s electrolysers were “uniquely suited for pairing with solar power for promoting refinery decarbonisation and green transportation.”
IVICOM Board President, Dinko Čondić, said, “The synergy between IVICOM’s engineering expertise and Ohmium’s cutting-edge PEM electrolyser technology will be key to successful project realisation.”
Speaking to H2 View, Ballantine said the company saw “a lot” of refinery injection opportunities in Europe and other regions.
“The added investment to get value out of your hydrogen is small, refineries are already producing hydrogen on-site, and the teams are extremely familiar with how to handle it technically,” he said.
The project is receiving support from the Croatian Government’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, as the central and eastern European nation looks to meet its national hydrogen strategy target of installing 70MW of hydrogen production by 2030.
Croatia in focus: Eurozone entry and hydrogen aspirations
On January 1, 2023, Croatia became the latest country to join the Eurozone and the Schengen area. With the European Commission having made significant moves to see hydrogen’s success flourish over the course of 2022, H2 View takes a dive into the hydrogen landscape of Croatia.
REPowerEU, the European Green Deal, energy security: three terms that became all the more common when speaking about hydrogen in Europe over the course of 2022.
Having set the goal of producing 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen domestically by 2030 and importing the same amount, REPowerEU came as a huge package that looks to aid the EU meet its climate targets of reaching climate neutrality by 2050 under the European Green Deal, as well as cut its reliance on Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine.
The desire to see hydrogen become an integral part of Europe’s energy system has been reiterated numerous times in recent years by high ranking European Commission officials, including Frans Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the Commission, who during European Hydrogen Week in October 2022, said, “we should also put hydrogen on the top of the agenda for the green recovery from the pandemic…
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