Lithuania’s Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys presented his government’s hydrogen development plan at an international conference on Wednesday (20 September) in Vilnius.
“Lithuania has ambitious plans for the future – we aim for energy independence and will leverage the opportunities offered by new industrial sectors to become energy exporters. Hydrogen will play a significant role on this journey,” said Minister Kreivys. According to the Minister, there are still doubts and criticisms about the prospects of hydrogen today, but at the same time, new projects are starting throughout Europe and almost “all visions of our energy future” in one way or another involve hydrogen.
By 2050, Lithuania aims to produce enough green hydrogen to meet its own needs and export surplus energy products to other countries. Lithuania could consume 24 terawatt-hours (TWh) of hydrogen, with an installed electrolyser capacity of 8.5 gigawatts (GW), consuming 36 TWh of electrical energy – three times more than the current total demand.
“Discussions on hydrogen today resemble conversations about renewable energy development projects more than a decade ago. Scepticism was widespread, and today we no longer question the need for renewable energy sources or their economic viability,” the Minister said.
By 2050, Lithuania’s development plan envisages hydrogen infrastructure to be well-connected to neighbouring countries, providing opportunities for both hydrogen export and import, as well as utilising hydrogen storage infrastructure in other countries.
