CEOs of Bulgarian natural gas transmission system operator Bulgargaz and its Greek counterpart DESFA, Vladimir Malinov and Maria Rita Galli, have signed a letter of intent for cooperation in the field of hydrogen.
The two companies’ CEOs underscored the key importance of hydrogen and its wide benefits to environment, the economy and society. The applications of hydrogen and technologies for its production, transportation, and usage can contribute both to the creation of sustainable industrial jobs and to the attainment of Europe’s energy and climate targets in line with the Paris Agreement. The operators note that they will continue the successful cooperation for developing cross-border energy infrastructure, as well as work on large-scale joint investment projects. Thus, the companies will support the development and deployment of hydrogen technologies and systems and the creation of an EU hydrogen market.
DESFA has submitted a proposal, part of the White Dragon integrated project, in the context of Projects of Common European Interest (PCI) for the development of an European hydrogen technologies and systems value chain. The project proposal involves a comprehensive assessment and gap analysis of the gas transmission system in Greece, regarding its readiness to accept and transport growing percentages of hydrogen blended into the natural gas.
Bulgartransgaz said that it is developing a project for retrofitting of the Bulgarian gas transmission system that envisages to assess the transmission system for its readiness to accept blends of natural gas with certain amounts of hydrogen with and its subsequent adaptation for transmission of natural gas and hydrogen blends.