Turkey could become exporter of green hydrogen to Europe: EBRD

Turkey’s strategic position on the Southern Gas Corridor could help it become an exporter of green hydrogen to Europe, according to Cristian Carraretto, associate director of Green Economy and Climate Action at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Carraretto, in an interview published June 15 by Turkey’s state news agency Anatolia, said that Europe is the driving force in terms of demand growth for hydrogen and that this creates the opportunity for Turkey to utilize existing gas export routes to help meet European demand.

“Turkey has a number of existing interconnections. The Southern Gas Corridor is a route to bring hydrogen into European markets,” he said, explaining that Turkey’s record of rapid expansion of its renewables sector suggests that it could quickly develop a renewable hydrogen sector.

Anatolia also quoted Emre Oguzoncul, Green Economy and Climate Action principal at EBRD Turkey, as suggesting the EBRD could help Turkey to develop a national hydrogen strategy. He said the EBRD has already begun talks with Turkey’s ministry of energy, and that the EBRD thinks Turkey has the potential to become an exporter of green hydrogen over the next decade.

“We are happy to support Turkey to develop a hydrogen roadmap and green hydrogen production and in having hydrogen in the energy mix of Turkey in the coming decade,” he said.

Although Turkey has no national hydrogen strategy, some efforts have been made to introduce hydrogen into the national energy mix.

In April, Turkish energy minister Fatih Donmez presided over the opening ceremony of the country’s Clean Energy Technology Center, established by the natural gas distributors association GAZBIR to test natural gas and hydrogen for use in domestic appliances.

“Hydrogen is a resource that we want Turkey to take place in the future of energy strategies, but the scale of its use depends on the results of these studies,” he said explaining that the center planned to start studies testing the addition of hydrogen to gas distribution lines this year.