Novak, Germany's economy minister discuss partnership in hydrogen technologies, potential fuel and energy agreements
MOSCOW. April 29 (Interfax) - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Germany's Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier have discussed prospects for cooperation in energy, including in terms of hydrogen technologies as well as possible new agreements in the fuel and energy sector, the press service for the Russian government said in a statement.
Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Rector of the St. Petersburg Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko and former German minister Klaus Töpfer also attended the meeting.
"We agreed that it is important to carry out joint projects in hydrogen energy. Recently the Prime Minister of Saxony (Germany) Michael Kretschmer visited us and proposed joint projects in the field of hydrogen. I will set the Energy Ministry the task, and Denis Manturov is here to hear us, to propose one or two joint projects to get us off to a good start. In this regard, I very much hopeful regarding the declaration of intent recently signed with the Russian Energy Ministry on cooperation in the field of sustainable energy," Alexander Novak was quoted as saying in the statement.
Furthermore, according to Novak, the two countries need to restore cooperation in science. "It is possible to restore projects in the development of technology, along this vector we could get a synergistic effect, given that now we need to finalize technologies for transmission and storage of energy, production, storage and transportation of new energy sources, hydrogen, equipment for generating electricity both on modern gas turbines and on the basis of the sun and wind. It is also necessary to work on creation of testing grounds for technologies and projects. We think that it would be advisable to renew our agreement on cooperation in the field of energy, formalize it by with joint documents," Novak also said.
Also, there is a need to continue working on joint energy projects, the deputy prime minister said.
"This includes Nord Stream 2, which is an important infrastructure project for many years to come, in which commercial companies are interested. Given that energy consumption in the world will grow, the project is important for Germany and the EU," Novak said.