Balkan countries pin hopes on hydrogen in rush to lower emissions

It never occurred to Baki Bajraktari that the presence of hydrogen in the Bulqize chrome mine where he works in northeastern Albania could be good news: his colleague died in an explosion in 2011 when a team hit a gas pocket.

But Bajraktari changed his mind after a study published in peer review journal Science in January revealed a reservoir containing between 5,000 and 50,000 tons of hydrogen locked beneath the mine that could eventually help provide an answer to reducing emissions from the region.

The amounts found at the Bulqize mine in the mountains of northern Albania are small and will be expensive to extract, the January report said, but they offer some hope.

"This is significant on a global scale because scientists have yet to discover such a reservoir elsewhere. As a group of researchers, we firmly believe this constitutes a reservoir," said Bardhyl Muceku, one of the study's authors.

"The quantity of H2 here is significant because since the first explosion in 2011, and up to the present year of 2024, the source has never ceased. Therefore, there must be a substantial quantity of it or it would have ended 13 years ago," Bajraktari agreed.

Hydrogen is produced by electrolyzing water and is considered clean if it is produced using renewable or nuclear energy, or natural gas with carbon capture technology attached.

As western Balkan countries rush to meet EU emissions targets, they are joining the ranks of nations worldwide looking to exploit the volatile gas.

The EU plans to invest up to $500 billion in renewable hydrogen by 2050. The United States last month said it will grant $750 million to projects that are building capacity to produce and use clean hydrogen.

Political momentum is growing for low-emission hydrogen, but implementation has been held up by an uncertain demand outlook and a lack of infrastructure to deliver the fuel to consumers, the International Energy Agency said in January as it lowered its growth forecast for the technology.

READ MORE

Botswana offers to send Germany 20,000 elephants

Genetic clues to left-handedness revealed

European pasta market beats to Turkish durum

Still, Balkan countries are plowing ahead, driven in part by the aim to reduce their heavy reliance on fossil fuels for electricity production.

In Serbia - where smoke stacks from coal plants spew pollution over major cities - local and Chinese companies have agreed on a $2.1 billion investment that includes a hydrogen facility with an annual capacity of about 30,000 metric tons by 2028.

Croatia plans to install 70 megawatts (MW) of hydrogen-powered capacity by 2030 and 2,750 MW by 2050.

North Macedonia and Croatia are looking for investors to turn coal-fired power plants into gas and hydrogen plants.

Skopje is also building a 123-kilometer gas pipeline with Greece which it hopes will one day also transport hydrogen.

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday