Motor Oil, PPC establish Hellenic Hydrogen company

Motor Oil and Public Power Corp. proceeded with the establishment of Hellenic Hydrogen. The firm will produce and store green hydrogen in Greece.

Dimitris Triantafyllopoulos has been appointed as the managing director of Hellenic Hydrogen. Motor Oil will control 51% of the share capital of the new company and PPC holds the rest, according to the announcement. The joint venture is being set up to produce, store and distribute green hydrogen in Greece.

Hellenic Hydrogen will develop and implement projects that accelerate the green transformation, the founders said. It will cooperate with large and experienced consulting firms, the update adds.

Motor Oil and PPC are pursuing a strategic turn away from fossil fuels

Fuel refiner Motor Oil inaugurated its renewable energy subsidiary MORE in October. PPC, which is controlled by the government through a minority stake, has a branch called PPC Renewables that is tasked with building and operating renewable energy plants, to replace coal plants.

Green hydrogen is expected to play a decisive role for energy security, the efforts to achieve climate neutrality in Europe by 2050 and in the industry’s green transition, the firms said.

The new company’s vision is to be at the forefront of an initiative to make Greece a strategic energy hub, according to CEO Triantafyllopoulos.

Hellenic Petroleum will cooperate with large and experienced consulting firms

Greece’s competition regulator cleared the deal in October. The companies signed the memorandum of understanding a year ago on the creation of the joint venture.

To be called green, hydrogen needs to be produced using electricity from renewable sources. In the process, water is separated in electrolyzers into oxygen and hydrogen. On the other hand, the term clean hydrogen is usually reserved for the result of electrolysis powered by any zero or near-zero carbon technology, including nuclear energy.

The production of green hydrogen is a solution for storing excess energy from solar and wind power plants, but it has a long way before becoming profitable. Almost all the hydrogen currently produced is from fossil fuels. It can also be used in industrial production and transportation.