ARKHANGELSK, November 18. /TASS/. Authorities of the Arkhangelsk Region suggest organizing a cluster to produce "green" hydrogen using electricity from renewable sources - from the Mezen tidal power plant and from wind farms. The annual capacity could be at least 1 million tonnes of "green" hydrogen, the Arkhangelsk Region’s Minister of Economic Development, Industry and Science Viktor Ikonnikov said on Wednesday.
"The project we suggest is to organize a cluster to produce "green" hydrogen using electricity from renewable sources - the Mezen tidal power plant and the wind farm, where the annual capacity would be minimum 1 million tonnes of "green" hydrogen," he said at a meeting of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Arkhangelsk.
According to him, the cluster will unite scientific organizations, centers for engineering and technology competences, since they will form the cluster’s technology infrastructures. The project has been put on the list of national projects to make low-carbon and carbon-free hydrogen and ammonia. The list has been initiated by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. The project has attracted Russian and foreign producers of equipment to produce electric energy, and electrolysis machines. At the same time, the construction’s term - up to 20 years - and the high costs hinder the project’s implementation. Another notable problem is that electricity supplies from the tidal plant cannot be smooth. The project also lacks estimations of possible impacts on the environment.
The White Sea’s Mezen Bay is unique for the tides, which may be as high as 10 meters. "It is one of the global locations, where a tidal power plant could work," the official said. "The bay’s energy potential is 19 GW."
"Additionally, the wind parameters ashore the bay [5-7 mps] point to the fact that a wind farm will be effective there," he said.
The tidal power plant’s project in Mezen Bay is not new. Fist studies and estimations were made back in the 1990s.