YAKUTSK, February 26. /TASS/. The potential to produce "green" hydrogen in Russia's Far North-East is 2.1 billion tons, and the most promising area is the Upper Kolyma basin, Yevgeny Glotov, an expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences' North-Eastern Integrated Research Institute, told TASS.
Russia's Far North-East stretches across the Magadan region, Chukotka, Kamchatka and Yakutia's northeastern part. Its total area is about 1.5 million square kilometers.
"The intracontinental Arctic and subarctic regions of the Far North-East, and possibly of entire East Siberia, are very promising for the production of "green" hydrogen with the use of solar radiation and wind energy, resources of low-mineralized surface and ground waters," he said.
The most promising area is the Upper Kolyma basin in the Magadan region. "There exist <…> prerequisites for large centers to generate electricity from solar radiation. There are water resources for hydrolysis of water without spending energy on its purification and deionization, the seashore is relatively close to transport hydrogen to other regions by sea. There are conditions to develop metallurgical industry based on hydrogen consumption using iron ore deposits in the Omolon River basin," the scientist continued.
According to his calculations, in the existing engineering, geological and environmental situations, by spending no more than 10% of ultra-fresh water runoff into the seas, it is possible to produce 2.1 billion tons of hydrogen, including 1.28 billion tons due to the use of solar energy. "It is reasonable to build already now a solar power plant in the upper reaches of the Sugoy River, with the capacity of about 1 million tons of hydrogen per year," he added.