Bulgarian town plans clean hydrogen industrial zone

The municipality of Razgrad in northeastern Bulgaria plans to build an industrial zone that will use clean hydrogen produced with solar power. Bids for developing an investment concept for the “hydrogen industrial zone” have already been invited.

The hydrogen industrial zone project involves the construction of a 25 MW solar power plant that would supply green energy for a 10 MW hydrogen electrolyzer, which would produce an estimated 714 tons of clean hydrogen a year, as defined by the European Union Hydrogen Strategy.

The hydrogen could be used to partially replace gas at the industrial zone as well as for other needs of industry and the municipality

The plan is to look into options for overhauling existing pipelines in order to inject hydrogen and partially replace gas used in the industrial zone. The hydrogen could also be supplied compressed for other needs of industry or the municipality, and the authorities are also mulling the construction of a hydrogen charging station on the local road.

The project is expected to enable energy savings of 3,000 GWh a year, while its renewable energy output is estimated at 33,000 GWh a year.

The project has the backing of the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance

The conceptual design of the facility has received strong approval from the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which was initiated by the European Commission in 2020 with the aim of speeding up the decarbonization of industry in the EU.

The development of the investment concept for the Razgrad project, which is to identify investors and define an investment roadmap, will be financed with a EUR 60,000 grant from the European City Facility (EUCF), an initiative supporting local authorities across Europe to accelerate investments in sustainable energy.