The government has provided more than nine billion rubles for the development of hydrogen energy, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said. Russia expects to occupy at least 20 percent of the future market, the volume of which is not yet fully understood.
The head of the Cabinet of Ministers held a strategic session on the development of hydrogen energy in the country. The potential of this sub-industry began to be studied especially carefully when the world started talking about the accelerated rejection of hydrocarbon raw materials. Many states, Mishustin recalled, are now focusing their efforts on slowing global warming, reducing the level of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as looking for alternative energy sources. More than 60 countries have pledged to move towards carbon neutrality. All this will inevitably lead to a change in the structure of energy consumption in the next few decades.
This state of affairs is a serious challenge, but also great opportunities for our country, the prime minister said. “This is an incentive for the use of breakthrough technologies in the backbone sectors of the economy,” he stressed.
The development of hydrogen energy is a promising direction in this area, the Prime Minister said. Hydrogen can be obtained from various sources and is applicable in many sectors of the economy. As part of the Russian Energy Week, the government and Gazprom, Mishustin recalled, signed an agreement on the development of hydrogen energy and the decarbonization of industry and transport based on natural gas. Other large Russian mining and energy companies are also actively exploring various options for producing hydrogen, including from water using electricity from nuclear power plants and renewable energy sources.
The Cabinet of Ministers will support the development with nine billion rubles. “In the next three years, these funds will be directed, among other things, to the development of competitive domestic technologies for the production, transportation and storage of hydrogen, the creation of testing grounds for technologies for hydrogen energy, including in the Arctic zone,” said Mikhail Mishustin.
In the presence of the necessary technologies, finished products and personnel, Russia in the future will be able to occupy at least 20 percent of the world hydrogen market.
These and other tasks are included in the Concept for the Development of Hydrogen Energy. It involves the creation of specialized clusters and the implementation of pilot projects for the production and export of hydrogen, the use of energy carriers based on it within the country. “It is important to create large enterprises that will be able not only to meet domestic demand, but also to ensure supplies abroad, and the priority should be the transition to the serial application of hydrogen technologies in various sectors of our economy,” the Prime Minister said.
The production of hydrogen in the world is growing by about 3-4 percent a year, said Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak. Taking into account ammonia, 116 million tons are currently produced and consumed. But the world market for energetic hydrogen does not yet exist, and there is no consensus among world experts on its potential volumes. The range of estimates, the deputy chairman of the government noted, is quite wide – from several tens of millions to almost 700 million tons per year by the middle of the century.
With the availability of the necessary technologies, finished products and personnel, Russia in the future will be able to occupy at least 20 percent of the global hydrogen market, Novak said. “This will allow in the future, while the role of hydrocarbons diminishes, to ensure the diversification of our exports,” he said.
Far East: investments will grow, there will be more discount tickets
Another strategic session was devoted to the task of increasing the population of the country’s Far East. The territory has a huge potential, and the government must do everything to make it realized, so that people want to live and work there, said Mikhail Mishustin. “We must really think about every person who lives in the Far East,” he stressed.
The main elements of work to increase the attractiveness of the Far East were the competent territorial planning and development of agglomerations, the creation of infrastructure for life – the construction of housing, hospitals, kindergartens, schools. Emphasis should also be placed on the development of the economic and tourism potential of the region.
Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Trutnev said that two trillion rubles of investment came to the Far Eastern territories through support measures, and by 2030 there will be 11 trillion. “More than 80 thousand jobs have been created. A little more than 400 enterprises have already been built,” said the deputy chairman of the government.
The Cabinet of Ministers continues to make decisions on the transport accessibility of the Far Eastern territories. Mikhail Mishustin ordered to send an additional 349.6 million rubles for low-cost air tickets from the Far East for certain categories of citizens. Large families, disabled people, women over 55 and men over 60, as well as young people under the age of 23 – a total of at least 42 thousand passengers – will be able to take advantage of special fares. Registration in the regions of the Far East is not required. The program provides for discounted tickets both for flights from the Far East and back.
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