Japan and Slovenia Sign Memorandum of Cooperation on Hydrogen Energy

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 10, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and Slovenia's Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy signed a memorandum of cooperation on hydrogen and its derivatives in Chiba, Japan. The two sides will cooperate on hydrogen production, storage, transportation, distribution, and application. The scope of cooperation also includes exchanges on hydrogen strategies and regulatory information, research and development, pilot projects, international supply chains, as well as standards, certification, and safety requirements.

On the same day, Slovenia's state-owned transmission system operator ELES, natural gas transmission system operator Plinovodi, and Japan's Yokogawa Electric signed another memorandum of cooperation to jointly study the development of Slovenia's hydrogen ecosystem. The three parties plan to study the construction of a hydrogen demonstration facility connected to both the electricity transmission grid and the natural gas transmission network, and to develop a supporting digital system for coordinating the operation of electricity, natural gas, and hydrogen infrastructure.

Corporate cooperation also includes studying green hydrogen mobility solutions for the maintenance of critical energy infrastructure, as well as deploying mobile power backup units that can also serve as fast-charging facilities. ELES is responsible for providing experience in the operation and development of Slovenia's transmission system and has initiated an alliance to build a domestic hydrogen ecosystem based on low-carbon hydrogen sources; Plinovodi is responsible for work related to natural gas transmission and hydrogen infrastructure and participates in the construction of the European Hydrogen Backbone; Yokogawa Electric provides technical experience in industrial automation, digitalization, and hydrogen projects.

The first implementation step of the trilateral cooperation is to conduct a feasibility study, led by Yokogawa Europe, to assess the technical, operational, and commercial pathways for integrating hydrogen into Slovenia's energy infrastructure. The Slovenian government also stated that corporate cooperation will include an assessment of the feasibility of building electrolytic hydrogen production capacity. At present, the relevant cooperation is still at the stage of memoranda and feasibility study preparation, and the investment amount for the demonstration facility, hydrogen production scale, construction site, and commissioning time have not yet been announced.

Slovenia is in the process of drafting a hydrogen action plan, which will specify priority measures and projects through 2030 and look ahead to 2040. The intergovernmental memorandum covers the application of renewable hydrogen and low-carbon hydrogen in the energy, transport, and industrial sectors, and also includes the construction of international hydrogen supply chains within the scope of cooperation.