Bulgaria’s state-owned gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz said that it secured 4.56 million euro ($5.39 million) in EU financing for a 250-kilometre hydrogen route from Sofia to Kulata crossing at the border with Greece.

The project is the first phase of Bulgaria’s hydrogen backbone and a key part of the South-East European Hydrogen Corridor that aims to connect hydrogen routes in Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia and Germany, Bulgartransgaz said in a press release last week.

“Hydrogen and natural gas occupy a leading position in the energy mix of the future. The development of the necessary infrastructure by Bulgartransgaz will create the conditions required for the supply of the region with clean, reliable and affordable energy,“ Bulgartransgaz executive director Vladimir Malinov said.