Ohmium Supplies Equipment for Croatia’s First Green Hydrogen Plant

Ohmium International’s will equip IVICOM’s upcoming 10 MW green hydrogen plant in Croatia at INA Rijeka Refinery with its PEM electrolyzer technology. This collaboration will create sustainable fuel for the country’s expanding transportation market. The plan is to couple Ohmium’s PEM technology with a new solar power plant to produce green hydrogen and help decarbonize the refinery’s operations.

“The synergy between IVICOM’s engineering expertise and Ohmium’s cutting-edge PEM electrolyzer technology will be key to successful project realization,” said Dinko Čondić, President of IVICOM’s Management Board. “This partnership is in line with our company vision of prioritizing green projects and green hydrogen innovation for a sustainable future.”

IVICOM’s green hydrogen and solar power plants are supported by Croatia’s Recovery and Resiliency Facility, which deploys measures to the improve the diversity of energy supplies and sustainability for members of the European Union. This project also accelerates the country’s National Hydrogen strategy to install 70 MW of hydrogen production facilities by 2030 and ramp up to 2,750 MW by 2050—also achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Rijeka Refinery in Croatia; Image Credits: Business Wire

“The green hydrogen installation at the Rijeka Refinery will be a premier example of the green transition in Europe,” said Arne Ballantine, Ohmium CEO. “Ohmium is pleased to be working with leaders such as IVICOM and INA on this pioneering project, as our PEM electrolyzers are uniquely suited for pairing with solar power for promoting refinery decarbonization and green transportation.”

In addition to hydrogen being utilized for decarbonization among European nations, the fuel is experiencing emerging integration in the United States. According to an interview at POWERGEN 2024 with GE Vernova’s Dr. Jeffrey Goldmeer, the hydrogen economy and infrastructure must be built-up in regions across the country to accelerate decarbonization—not just along the Gulf Coast.

“If you're here in the Gulf Coast, where most hydrogen in the United States is consumed and produced, I don't think they would tell you they have an infrastructure issue,” said Goldmeer. “What we're talking about is a future where we might see the production and use of hydrogen more decentralized, across the United States. So that might imply maybe there's a lack of infrastructure in those places, but those places today don't have large-scale hydrogen production and consumption, So, I don't think it's a lack of infrastructure; I think that we haven't developed the hydrogen ecosystem in those locations.”

A primary focus of Goldmeer’s commentary was the need to integrate hydrogen in markets other than power generation, as it will assist in wide-scale decarbonization while power infrastructure and fuel supply is developed, “Maybe hydrogen doesn’t go into power, maybe hydrogen goes into mobility applications such as fuel-cell vehicles,” added Goldmeer. “Hydrogen isn’t the answer for just gas turbines. There are so many other places where it makes sense to use it. I’d like to see it here on the Gulf Coast as we start producing more and more hydrogen that’s at a lower carbon intensity to put into fertilizer production. Let’s take a real bite out of carbon intensity and some of these industries that use hydrogen today.”