BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 3. Croatia hopes to become a hydrogen supply hub via the Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP), Croatian Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development told TurkicWorld.

"EU plan for REPowerEU is to have at least 20 million tons of low carbon hydrogen until 2030. At least half of it will be imported. As IAP is one of potential route, Croatia would like to become the hub for clean technologies and clean hydrogen," the ministry said.

As for the project update, the ministry said the work on IAP is in progress and all the important information will be communicated in a timely manner.

"Croatia in 2022 adopted Croatian Hydrogen Strategy till 2050 with the full description of the kind of hydrogen economy that will be developed in Croatia. Croatia would like to build up production of low carbon hydrogen, transport and storage, usage and deployment and research and innovation. Croatia started the North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley Project together with Slovenia and Autonomous Region Friuli-Venezia-Giulia with the intention to develop hydrogen economy at all three territories. That is why this project will be transformed in institution in next 12 months. One of the tasks of future institution North Adriatic Hydrogen Valley is to boost policy and regulatory framework for hydrogen economy within all three territories," said the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.

Ionian Adriatic Pipeline can be connected to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) to transport gas to many countries in South-East Europe. The pipeline with total length of 516 kilometers will stretch from Albania through Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to split in Croatia.

The capacity of the pipeline will amount to five billion cubic meters of gas per year. Currently, studies are underway to reveal the hydrogen mix transportation opportunities for TAP.