Director of Economic Development Agency of Leningrad Region Anastasia Mikhalchenko participated in the discussion dedicated to the development of hydrogen energy within the German Week in Saint Petersburg.
The event was organized in the hybrid format – online and offline. The main question of the meeting: “Hydrogen – new oil and gas: a challenge or an opportunity?”. The fast development of hydrogen technologies should make a decisive contribution to the global fight against climate change and become one of the main factors for the achievement of carbon neutrality. The participants of the meeting discussed the development of energy carriers of the future in Russia and in the world and potential Russian-German projects. There are still a lot of uncertainties in the hydrogen energy market, but international projects are being implemented in this sphere and the prospects are ambitious.
Anastasia Mikhalchenko noted that Leningrad region sees the huge potential of cooperation with German colleagues in the sphere of development of renewable energy sources because the country is actively involved in the global processes which is confirmed, for example, by the refusal to use coal and by decarbonization of industry due to transition to hydrogen. Besides, Economic Development Agency of Leningrad Region has great experience in support for various investment projects and it is ready to provide comprehensive assistance in the implementation of projects in the sphere of hydrogen production – to select land plots, provide consulting assistance, define the most suitable measures of support.
One of the key measures in the sphere of development of new energy policy can be support for modern technologies. Currently, the regional law on special investment contracts (SPIC 2.0) is updated. The essence of this mechanism – an investor introduces modern technologies which will allow manufacturing industrial products, competitive at the global level, and the government provides support.
The meeting was organized within the 18th German Week by the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce, German Economy Information Center together with Hanns Seidel Foundation. The event was also included in the program of transnational awareness-raising event Baltic Circular Economy Forum.
