Prospects for hydrogen energy in Russia

. The serious depletion of natural resources and the high cost of their extraction, increase in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as the increase in energy consumption require a radical change in the technologies for generating and consuming electricity and building a “green” economy. In this regard, the topic of the study that analyzes the prospects for the hydrogen energy transition as a crucial way to improve energy efficiency is relevant. The purpose of the study is to analyze the prospects for using hydrogen fuel in solving environmental problems and overcoming the energy crisis. The study is novel in that it systematizes the international experience and Russian practice of energy efficiency, assesses the prospects for the hydrogen industry development, and analyzes possible scenarios for implementing the state energy policy in the Russian Federation. The hypothesis about the benefits of using hydrogen fuel as the main response to energy problems in Russia and abroad is confirmed.


Introduction
Today, humanity is facing a severe energy crisis due to technogenesis and anthropogenic activities leading to environmental and climatic catastrophe.This is the result of using nonperfect energy and transportation technologies, which account for 70% of the economic efficiency [1].The results of the analysis show that energy transition and modernization of transportation is underway on a global scale [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9].In the US, Japan, China, and the EU countries, programs for the production and operation of hydrogen cars, buses, eco-friendly trams, vessels, and trains are being implemented.Experts predict that by 2050, transportation energy will remain a combined energy sector including hydrogen engines, internal combustion engines and electric motors [1; 3].
The political situation in the world -as well as economic efficiency -remain the key determinants.Presumably, by 2040-2050, mankind is expected to undergo fundamental transformations of the entire energy system; by 2075, 95 % of the energy sector will use hydrogen technologies.Within 2023-2025, the process of energy transition to new types of fuel is inevitable [1; 8].Thus, on August 24, 2022, the governments of Canada and Germany signed a declaration of intent to create a special alliance for exporting hydrogenbased clean energy to Germany as early as in 2025.In Finland and Norway, there is state funding for venture pilot projects in building hydrogen-powered vessels.The depletion of conventional sources of energy, the high cost of their extraction, the enhanced greenhouse effect, and increased energy consumption have led to the global energy crisis.
Therefore, the topic of assessing the prospects for using hydrogen in the "green" economy is relevant [7; 11].According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the potential for energy efficiency is 38-42 % of total energy consumption.The Energy Strategy of the Russian Federation to 2035 states that the energy intensity of production is 1.2-2.0times higher than the world average, 1.5-4.0times higher than the world's best examples, and there is a large carbon footprint.
The 2020-2021 new coronavirus pandemic has led to a decrease in economic activity and a 16 % reduction in demand for energy resources amid falling energy prices.The exacerbation of environmental problems and the introduction (at the end of 2021) of the green agenda in the text of the Paris Agreement on preventing the negative impact of global warming demand that national economies increase industrial competitiveness, reduce the energy intensity of GDP and sharply reduce the carbon footprint [11].

Materials and Methods
The present stage of evolution processes puts forward to the social conscience a problem of determining a further way for Russian society development because today it became urgently needed to rethink the accumulated experience and relevant transformation of the country economy management system for the purpose of national sustainable development.Transition of western countries to the sixth technological mode of social relationship development requires a new society to be built that is based on principle of legality, application of high moral and ethical ground, innovative approaches to the society management system, and broad application of IT, Green and Smart Technologies.
The Smart approach has parameters that are similar to so called "green" approach: power efficiency improvement, infrastructure development, improvement of residents' living comfort, monitoring and verification of various systems (water supply, heating, and power supply), preliminary imitation power modeling using information technologies and software products, automated control of greenhouse gas emission level, humidity, and other characteristics of living comfort.
State policies are aimed at solving energy and environmental problems, contributing to strengthening national energy security, increasing competitiveness, reducing energy consumption costs, as well as reducing air pollution and climate change.For example, the US are implementing the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency Vision for 2025, which is aimed at utilizing the energy efficiency potential through joint efforts of gas and electric companies [2].The expected effect is to reduce CO2 by about 500 million tons per year [5], which is equivalent to 90 million "off-road" cars.An example of an energy efficient policy within the EU is the implementation of the Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of the European Union of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (Strasbourg), as well as the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU) that establishes a number of mandatory measures to improve energy efficiency at all stages of the energy chain.In particular, targets for an annual energy reduction of 1.5 % have been adopted; energy efficient renovation of at least 3 % of buildings per year; installation of over 200 million smart meters for electricity and 45 million for gas [8].
As part of the Clean Energy for All Europeans package, a new Energy Efficiency Directive to 2030 (2018/2002) was adopted, equal to at least 32.5 % in all EU countries.The Directive allows for an upward revision of the target in 2023 in case of significant cost reductions due to technological development.Under the 2018 amendments, EU countries are required to achieve energy savings of 0.8 % per annum of final energy consumption over 2021-2030.The exceptions are Cyprus and Malta with savings of 0.24 % per year.
In 2017, the PRC adopted a national program to improve energy efficiency, which contains a target to reduce energy intensity by 15% below the level of 2015 by 2020, as well as a program for developing renewable energy sources [6].An example of international measures is the Paris Agreement Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change signed in 2016 by representatives of 196 states at the 21st Conference in Le Bourget (France).
Energy efficiency has a significant impact on GDP growth, employment, quality of life of the population, reduction of CO2 emissions, the level of welfare of the population [5], resource management, environmental pollution, industrial production, energy prices, energy security, and the state of the planet's climate.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [14] prioritizes mitigating natural gas emissions in production chains through the use of low-carbon technologies, as well as reducing fossil fuel emissions [15].
The Concept for the Development of Hydrogen Energy in the Russian Federation provides that by 2050 Russia will be able to export from 7.9 to 33.4 million tons of hydrogen per year receiving an annual income of USD 100 billion, subject to the development of hydrogen technologies and the reduction of the carbon footprint [4; 5].Today, Russia is inferior to large countries: the energy intensity of the Russian economy exceeds that of the EU by 2 times, the US -1.5 times, China -1.1 times [16].The energy intensity of Russia's GDP is not likely to decrease before 2035.Four scenarios for the development of the Russian economy are possible [9] (Table 1).If Scenario 4 is implemented, by 2035 Russia can outperform China in terms of reducing energy intensity by 10-11 %, subject to receiving government support and funding.However, a lag of 14-16 % from the same indicator in the United States is possible.The analysis of the energy policy of the Russian Federation made it possible to identify a number of problems and consequences (Table 2).

Identified problem
Result Imperfect laws [11] No

No effective interaction between participants
No system for assessing the prospects for energy development One of the tools for solving problems is concentration and coordinated actions of Russian regulatory authorities.An example of state participation is the Plan of Measures on "Development of Hydrogen Energy in the Russian Federation until 2024" [17], adopted in October 2020, which specifies the competitive advantages of the Russian Federation in the production, consumption and export of hydrogen fuel [9].
Today, a pool of industrial enterprises has been created to support the development of hydrogen energy in the Russian Federation, and a pool of government agencies that provide support and monitoring.

Results and discussion
Using hydrogen means the development of innovative technologies [3] and the generation of power using galvanic cells, where the chemical energy of the fuel is converted into electrical energy via the electrochemical method [18].Examples are the fuel cell electric mobile power generator, marine hybrid power plants, the use of power plants in sustainable urban transport.
The main advantages are the absolute environmental cleanliness; no need for overhead cables and traction substations; high safety and reliability performance; and high level of energy efficiency.Tests of an eco-friendly tram model in the urban traffic cycle without connecting energy storage devices showed the 56 % efficiency of an electrochemical generator.When using hydrogen fuel, the cost of laying cable networks is reduced (the savings are RUR 12 million per 1 km of travel), as well as overhead cable network (RUR 14 million per 1 km).
The costs of constructing a traction substation (RUR 100-150 million for every 2.0-2.5 km of the tram line) are excluded.Calculations show that the cost per 1 km of the ecofriendly tram line is 20-25 % lower than that of traditional models.Hydrogen-powered sea and river vessels will have similar expected characteristics.
The use of hydrogen filling stations based on the conversion of natural fuels show the following obvious advantages: reducing the cost of generating electricity; reducing the physical volume of the system from 36 to 7 m 3 ; increased system reliability and equipment life.Natural gas conversion technology reduces electric energy costs by 21 times.
In Russia, PJSC Gazprom developed the first fuel cell battery based on solid polymer electrolyte using domestic technologies.The advantages of the battery include obtaining an uninterrupted source of energy for transport units and aviation, as well as heat supply to housing and utilities facilities.Russia also uses the most powerful battery designed to complete power plants of megawatt class on the basis of fuel cells for transportation and stationary purposes, as well as hydrogen-air battery with solid polymer electrolyte with capacity of 50 kW of megawatt class.Work is presently underway with regard to qualitative improvement of the volt-ampere characteristics of fuel cell batteries.
The methodological framework of the study comprises general scientific methods of cognition, in particular, methods of economic and logical analysis, system method, synthesis, legal comparison.The analysis of foreign experience in the implementation of projects for sustainable development economy has shown that in almost all countries the greatest number of innovation projects are carried out in the construction and energy sectors, while very strict requirements for energy efficiency level are imposed on the facilities (Table 3) [5; 12].

Implementation of energy-efficient of Hydrogen projects
One of the tools for solving the above problems is concentration and coordinated actions of Russian regulatory authorities.The analysis of best international practices demonstrates the importance of political will in the process of forming a national production and consumer energy culture [3; 7; 8; 13].
An example of state participation is the Plan of Measures on "Development of Hydrogen Energy in the Russian Federation until 2024" adopted in October 2020, which specifies the competitive advantages of the Russian Federation in the production, consumption and export of hydrogen fuel -in particular, the ongoing laboratory and experimental work in the field of hydrogen energy, resource base, reserve capacities in the power generation system, geographical accessibility of large consumers, etc. [9].
This document identifies the locomotives of the Energy Hydrogen Strategy of Russia, in particular, Gazprom PJSC and Rosatom State Atomiс Energy Corporation.Today, a pool of industrial enterprises has been created to support the development of hydrogen energy in the Russian Federation, and a pool of government agencies that provide support and monitoring, which means further implementation of the activities planned in the Roadmap within the framework of public-private partnership (PPP).
One of the promising areas may be creating a specialized energy efficiency agent in the form of PPP, the main functions of which are presented in Table 4 [9].An agent in the form of PPP may be vested with the functions of an arbitrator between the RF Government and international financial organizations in providing financial assistance and developing new financial models for improving energy efficiency [19].
1) the hydrogen energy transition is a phase one leading to fundamental changes without the possibility of returning to the bifurcation point [1]; 2) implementing hydrogen energy in the US and the EU leads to a significant rise in price due to the introduction of a "carbon tax" and the isolation of economies [10]; 3) the conditions of anti-Russian sanctions create a paradoxical situation: the decreased volume of Russian exports in the potential hydrogen market and the creation of an acute shortage of hydrogen, which leads to an acute energy crisis; 4) the transition to hydrogen fuel in Europe and China could lead to exponential growth in demand for copper and rare earth metals that have very limited reserves and this could lead to a sharp rise in prices for metals and tougher competition and control over deposits.

Table 1 .
The Scenarios for Implementing the Energy Efficiency Policy in Russia

Table 3 .
Implementation of innovative Hydrogen-projects: energy efficient approach

Table 4 .
The main functions of the state agent under the Government of the Russian Federation