Rosatom willing to work with European cos on hydrogen
MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax) - Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation is open to working with European companies in the area of hydrogen energy, Rusatom Overseas president Yevgeny Pakermanov said at a Russian-German industry forum.
"We are considering the possibility of our participation in the future hydrogen market from various points of view," Pakermanov said. A large amount of electric power capacity is needed to produce hydrogen and Rosatom has it, he said.
Moreover, Rosatom's nuclear power plants "are located in regions where one can talk about a [hydrogen] export cluster," he said.
"We're absolutely open to cooperation. I've already mentioned the idea of forming a cluster for hydrogen production. For example, in Northwest Russia we have very good possibilities for getting electricity and using it to produce hydrogen. Accordingly, we need facilities for hydrogen production and efficient solutions for storage and transportation," Pakermanov said.
"As regards logistics and transportation, we're certainly open and would like to purposefully work with European, German companies," Pakermanov said when asked about potential cooperation on hydrogen with German companies.
Rosatom is also willing to work with foreign partners in actual production of hydrogen, he said. "We absolutely don't rule out the application of efficient solutions that already exist today," Pakermanov said.
"But naturally, here arises the question of subsidies, financial aid, either aid and assistance from equipment suppliers or a solution that makes it possible to localize production in the Russian Federation and receive support from the government," Pakermanov said.
Russian Deputy Energy Minister Pavel Sorokin said earlier that state companies Gazprom , Rosatom and Rostec, which specialize in various industrial technologies, as well as the Academy of Sciences and other organizations are working on developing technologies and doing market research for hydrogen production and exports, as well as studying the need for state financial support.
He said promising export markets with potentially strong demand in Asia are Japan, South Korea and China, while in Europe this would foremost be Germany and France. Possible areas of application include automobiles and other types of transport, power generation, the chemical industry, fertilizer production and oil refining, Sorokin said.