In October 2023, a meeting was held with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities in Transcarpathia, where agreements were reached on the implementation of the “green hydrogen” production project through the construction of a solar power plant and an electrolyzer in the Irshava territorial community. At that time, work was already underway to prepare the Hydrogen Strategy of Ukraine until 2050, however, after its publication for public discussion in May 2024, this topic temporarily disappeared from the agenda of relations between Ukraine and Germany and the EU as a whole. The fact that Ukraine was unable to adopt the Hydrogen Strategy until 2050 for almost a year after the publication of a sufficiently thoroughly worked out document, is considered by representatives of the commercial sector to be a negative signal for both bilateral relations and business.
The positive result of the project implementation will not have commercial value, but will first of all show the feasibility of similar projects in Ukraine and will give impetus to wider participation of private business in the development of this energy sector. Since the project is planned to be implemented as a complex facility with a minimum distance between the solar power plant and the electrolyzer, the issue of connecting to the power grid is not on the agenda. At the same time, the issue of ensuring the sale of “green hydrogen” remains relevant.
The Ukrainian side considers the Slovak company US Steel Kosice and German divisions of automobile companies in Slovakia as prospective customers for such products. For the implementation of the hydrogen transportation project, the progress of the “Hydrogen Corridor Ukraine – EU” project will be of great importance, where a high level of interaction between the GTS operators of Ukraine and Slovakia should be achieved in order to create opportunities for the physical export of hydrogen.
The commercial sector of Ukraine considers hydrogen to be a promising direction for investments in the medium term. At the same time, the novelty of this type of energy resource requires a significant preparatory period both on the part of Ukraine and on the part of Germany and other European countries. It should include the development and adoption of legislative changes, strategies for the development of hydrogen energy with the mandatory development of the domestic market and the development of cross-border infrastructure. In parallel, demand for “green hydrogen” should develop by stimulating its use in industries with a high carbon footprint (metallurgy, cement industry, chemical industry), transport and for central heating. In this context, pilot projects will be important, which can be implemented by German companies localized in Ukraine, or those that are considering relevant investments in production facilities in the near future.
In turn, German businessmen involved in the project draw attention to the fact that the new German government coalition has expressed support for the development of hydrogen energy, both in the format of scientific research and innovative technologies, and pilot business projects for those German companies that are ready to take on the relevant risks, in particular, abroad. Given the limited financial resources that Germany and the EU will be ready to allocate in the coming years to support hydrogen projects with much greater demand from business and research organizations, only the most active countries will be able to use them. Currently, a certain leader is Serbia, which is very actively developing the legislative framework and infrastructure for launching hydrogen projects and becoming one of the key exporters of “green hydrogen” to the EU and Germany. One of the obstacles on this path is the weak development of infrastructure between Serbia and European countries, which, however, can be overcome if decisions are made to support the development of hydrogen pipeline projects themselves. To intensify the dialogue between Germany and Ukraine and express support for the “Hydrogen Corridor Ukraine – EU”, a major event is planned for October 2025 in the Slovak city of Košice, where representatives of the executive authorities from the involved countries (Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine) at the level of deputy ministers of energy, business delegations from companies that can potentially become producers and consumers of “green hydrogen”, as well as international financial institutions and support programs will be invited.
