March 1 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria will seek to attract private investors to cover less than half of the 30 million euro ($31.9 million) initial investment in an EU-backed project for the development of a hydrogen valley project, innovation minister Alexander Pulev said.
The innovation ministry will match an 8 million euro European Union grant for the project, with the balance to be provided by private sources, Pulev told an energy conference in Sofia on Tuesday.
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Zagora Sustainable Hydrogen Region (ZAHYR), Bulgaria's hydrogen valley project near Stara Zagora and the Maritsa basin, was cleared in February to get financial support under the EU's Clean Hydrogen Partnership initiative. The project involves the construction of a solar photovoltaic plant and conversion of intermittent renewable electricity output into hydrogen, which can then be used for energy-intensive sectors such as industrial production or transport.
The public funding for the project will be channelled under the EU-approved science and innovation operational programme for the new 2021-2027 period.
A total of 140 million levs ($76.2 million/71.6 million euro) of the national Recovery and Resilience Plan budget has been earmarked to develop pilot projects of this kind for green hydrogen and biogas.
The pilot project is led by an international consortium, Pulev added without providing further details.
According to Pulev, Bulgaria has made progress with its national hydrogen road map, which has just been submitted for approval by the EU and is expected to be endorsed by Bulgaria's caretaker cabinet within two weeks. The hydrogen valley project puts Bulgaria among just 20 countries worldwide that are currently developing such projects, Pulev added.
In relation to EU-backed government mechanism to fund the development of renewable energy projects by companies, the Bulgarian Development Bank is currently putting together a bridge financing tool to facilitate businesses throughout the project cycle, from approval stage until the grant is disbursed once the project is completed, Pulev also said.
The project, which has a completion timeline of five years, is expected to start in 2023, according to an earlier statement by the ministry.
Hydrogen valleys are local ecosystems which cover the complete hydrogen value chain, from production, transport and distribution to end use by sectors such as industry or e-mobility.
($ = 0.9392 euro)