On Friday, 18 October 2024, four institutions – the Polish Geological Institute – National Research Institute, the AGH University of Science and Technology, the Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) and ORLEN S.A. concluded an agreement on scientific and technical cooperation, establishing the Polish Natural Hydrogen Initiative.

Establishment of the Polish Natural Hydrogen Initiative. Signatories of the agreement (from left): Prof. Rafał Wiśniowski (Vice-rector of AGH University of Science and Technology), Prof. Krzysztof Szamałek (Director of PGI-NRI), Magdalena Wdowin, Prof. at the Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute (IGSMiE) of the Polish Academy of Sciences (acting Director of the IGSMiE), Wiesław Prugar, PhD (Member of the Management Board for Upstream, ORLEN S.A.). Photo: Zbigniew Sulima

An occasion to launch the initiative was the Natural Hydrogen Day – a special thematic conference organised at AGH University of Science and Technology, which, in addition to the signatories of the agreement, also brought together experts from the hydrogen industry in Poland and representatives of the Ministry of Climate and Environment – the honorary patron.

Poland and the European Union need natural hydrogen. This was the conclusion of one of the discussion panels, during which Prof. Krzysztof Szamałek stressed that [...] Exploration of hydrogen accumulation in the Earth's crust, i.e. geological or natural hydrogen deposits, is a challenge which the PGI-NRI, in its role as the state geological service, has been undertaking for almost two years now. We are trying to determine which geological horizons, rock formations, are the most promising for the occurrence of natural hydrogen in Poland and what are the chances of discovering and economically developing deposits of this raw material. This issue is important not only from the point of view of the energy transition of our country's economy, but also because natural hydrogen – its genesis, sources and forms of occurrence – is an issue that fascinates the scientific world. This is a completely new direction for geological research, which, together with our partners in this agreement signed today, we are going to develop as part of the Polish Natural Hydrogen Initiative. Perhaps we will soon be able to answer the most important question of the day: to what extent will hydrogen exploited in a similar way to natural gas deposits cover domestic demand for this raw material?

Do Poland and the European Union need natural hydrogen? The discussion was chaired by Grzegorz Machowski, PhD (AGH, first on the left), and the following persons responded in turn: Prof. Krzysztof Galos (Chief National Geologist at the Ministry of Climate and Environment), Prof. Krzysztof Szamałek (Director of the PGI-NRI), Prof. Magdalena Wdowin, IGSMiE (acting Director of the IGSMiE PAN), Wiesław Prugar, PhD (Member of the Management Board for Upstream, ORLEN S.A.) and Henryk Sechman, Prof. at the AGH (Head of the Department of Energy Resources, AGH University of Science and Technology, initiator of the agreement). Photo: Marcin Łojek

Poland has the potential to become one of the most important natural hydrogen exploration sites in the world. The occurrence of hydrogen in the form of both free gas and gas dissolved in water has been noted and recorded in many deep boreholes drilled on our country's territory during the search for mineral deposits or the drilling of exploratory boreholes. Hydrogen also occurs as an admixture in many natural gas deposits.

This initiative aims not only to identify the natural hydrogen sites that can be economically developed in the future, but also to identify the sources of this gas, which naturally accumulates in the earth's crust. This is why scientific activities will result e.g., in the reconstruction of hydrogen systems - elements of nature whose functioning we do not yet understand, although they are of great interest to the scientific community, as well as electrifying entrepreneurs from the energy industry. PhD Krystian Wójcik from the PGI-NRI spoke about this issue in more detail during the opening session of the conference.

PhD Krystian Wójcik (PGI-NRI) on the geological rationale for the exploration of natural hydrogen deposits in Poland during the opening session of the Natural Hydrogen Day at AGH. Photo: Marcin Łojek

Text and photos: Krystian Wójcik, Marcin Łojek, Adam Wójcicki, Zbigniew Sulima