Hydrogen Valley to accelerate Poland’s green transition

LONDON (ICIS)–The Central Hydrogen Valley (CHV) project seeks to develop a 250MW capacity of hydrogen electrolysers and 2GW of wind and solar capacity in central Poland by 2030.

This estimated capacity is set to produce 54,000kg of green hydrogen and 4TWh carbon-free energy per year, leading to a reduction of 1.3million tonnes of CO2 emission per year.

The CHV project currently consists of 70 entities located in central Poland. Its competitive advantage of the CHV is “the versatility these companies offer, bringing in value at every single step of the hydrogen chain”, a spokesperson of the founder company of this initiative, Świętokrzyskie Industrial Group INDUSTRIA, told ICIS.

This project will cover the entire path of hydrogen production and use, including electrolysers converting electricity into hydrogen, storage and electricity production.

The CHV will cover the Świętokrzyskie, Łódzkie, southern Mazowsze and northern Podkarpacie provinces, of which the Świętokrzyskie region is home to more than 30 mining sites.

Decarbonisation of the mining and transport sector in this region are among the main goals of the project.

The produced hydrogen will be used as a green fuel in heavy transport and public transport in large urban centres located in this region.

“Through our Valley runs the main railway track connecting North – South and East – West of Poland – that is why public and freight rail transport will be a crucial aspect of the Central Hydrogen Valley development,” added a spokesperson.

In the coming years, green hydrogen produced in the electrolysis process could also be used in the new combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) units at the Kozienice power plant coming online in 2027.

This power plant will be a strategic unit in the Polish power system supplying the Warsaw agglomeration.

The new CCGT units with a total capacity of 2.1GW will have H2 Ready technology, allowing hydrogen to be fully co-combusted and thus reducing emissions, the power utility ENEA highlighted in its press release.

POLISH HYDROGEN STRATEGY

Poland is currently developing eight Hydrogen Valleys aiming to create regional markets with the full value chain of hydrogen technologies, including production, transmission, storage, and the application of hydrogen technology in different sectors of the economy.

These projects were included in the Polish hydrogen strategy to 2030, which also provided an outlook on hydrogen developments up to 2040.

According to this strategy, which was adopted in November 2021, Poland seeks to achieve a total capacity of 2GW of electrolysers producing green hydrogen, have 1,000 hydrogen buses in service and over 32 hydrogen refuelling and bunkering stations.

Data from ICIS Hydrogen Analytics show Poland is set to produce 30.18TWh of hydrogen by 2030, of which 4.58TWh of renewable hydrogen through electrolysers, against demand expectations in the country of 30.24TWh/year.