BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 30. The Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) pipeline holds potential for transporting hydrogen as a blend, even at low percentages, aligning with the EU’s clean energy goals and supporting Bulgaria’s climate commitments, Teodora Georgieva, ICGB Executive Officer, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
"Preliminary studies indicate that small amounts of hydrogen can be mixed with natural gas, although higher levels would require targeted infrastructure investments," she explained.
The executive officer pointed out that ICGB is currently evaluating market interest to determine whether there is substantial demand for hydrogen transport services in the region.
"This assessment could guide us in aligning future projects with the European Hydrogen Backbone initiative, aimed at establishing a cross-border hydrogen network across Europe. With Bulgaria and Greece already advancing joint hydrogen strategies and planning interconnections, infrastructure will eventually allow cross-border hydrogen flow, boosting energy resilience and accelerating decarbonization in Eastern Europe. This is a development we’re closely monitoring," said Georgieva.
The IGB gas pipeline connects with the Greek national gas transmission system (DESFA S.A.) and the Trans-Adriatic gas pipeline (TAP AG) in the area of Komotini (Greece), and with the Bulgarian gas transmission system (Bulgartransgaz EAD) in the area of Stara Zagora.
The pipeline’s design capacity is up to 3 billion cubic meters per year in the direction Greece - Bulgaria.
Depending on the market interest for larger capacity and the possibilities of the neighboring gas transmission systems, the capacity of IGB is designed with the option for increase up to 5 billion cubic meters per year with additional construction of a compressor station.
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