"ZACHYR" mission will turn Stara Zagora into one of the first hydrogen valleys in Europe

Raya Lecheva

The project proposal "Zagora Sustainable Hydrogen Region" (ZAgora Sustainable HYdrogen Region - ZAHYR) was won by an association for "Clean Hydrogen" with the participation of 8 Bulgarian companies, including TPP "Maritsa East 2" and scientists from the Horizon Europe program. But it is additionally funded by the Recovery Plan. It is the first project in Eastern Europe for a hydrogen valley. This was commented to 3eNews by Prof. Daria Vladikova, head of the "Hydrogen Technologies" department at the Institute for Sustainable Transition and Development at the Thrace University - Stara Zagora.

The project will also be subsidized with another 8 million euros under the Recovery Plan through the Programs of the Ministry of Innovation and Growth.

A total of 5 MW electrolysers will be built in Stara Zagora, which will make hydrogen for 10 buses in the city and 2 fuel cell trucks, for green lighting in the city. During the day we will collect the energy and, in the evening, through a fuel cell, we make electricity for lighting the parks in Stara Zagora. In Maritsa East 2, injection will be made into a gas turbine for the production of electricity in peak elements - from a mixture of hydrogen and natural gas, and we will gradually increase the amount of hydrogen, it can be mixed with biogas, Prof. Vladikova pointed out.

Qualification and retraining of people in the region will be needed, but so a strategy is about to lay the road map for hydrogen development. The ZAHYR project creates expertise in the development of hydrogen transport and the restructuring of means of transport through hydrogen and the use of hydrogen in the coal-fired industry.