Brussels, 30 September 2025
At this year’s European Hydrogen Week, the debate on “Resilience of Critical Infrastructure: Energy and Digital” underlined a key message from the European Commission:
“Progress in digital and industrial technologies, including in space, shapes all sectors of the economy and society. They transform the way industry develops, create new products and services, and are central to any sustainable future”.
The discussion underscored how energy and digital infrastructure are deeply interconnected. In this context, hydrogen emerged as a central theme: a clean energy carrier that not only supports decarbonisation but also enhances digital resilience by securing the energy backbone of Europe’s data-driven economy.
It was against this backdrop that Motor Oil joined the panel, represented by Konstantinos Chatzifotis, EU Affairs Manager, to share insights on how flagship hydrogen projects – particularly EPHYRA and TRIERES – demonstrate the convergence of energy and digital technologies in practice.
Hydrogen and Digital: Two Sides of the Same Equation
For Motor Oil, the convergence of energy and digital is more than a trend; it is a necessity. The Group coordinates EPHYRA, a Horizon Europe project that will deliver the first large-scale renewable hydrogen production facility in Southeastern Europe. Initially planned at 30 MW and now expanded to 50 MW with Greece’s Recovery and Resilience Facility support, the project deploys a pressurized alkaline electrolyser to supply competitive renewable hydrogen.
What makes EPHYRA especially relevant to the panel’s theme is its digital backbone. With energy costs representing around 81% of hydrogen’s total cost, the project integrates digital energy management systems to balance power purchase agreements, grid supply, and certification requirements. This approach does not just improve cost-efficiency; it enhances safety, resilience, and operational continuity, which are central to critical infrastructures like refineries.
TRIERES Hydrogen Valley: Extending Resilience Beyond Production
With TRIERES, Motor Oil Group is also coordinating Greece’s hydrogen valley, bringing together 26 partners across research, industry, and the public sector. A key innovation of TRIERES is the development of a Digital Twin model to manage hydrogen distribution across multiple sectors including industry, energy, and mobility.
By simulating and optimizing real-world operations, the Digital Twin ensures that infrastructure investments can scale intelligently, making hydrogen integration both flexible and secure. This links directly back to the panel’s debate: without digital solutions, energy resilience cannot be guaranteed.
Powering the Next Generation of Data Centres
The panel discussions also turned to the future of the Europe’s digital backbone: data centres. For Motor Oil, hydrogen and clean molecules are not abstract options but practical enablers of resilience. In Greece, their role is especially strategic, including: provision of long-duration backup power where grid congestion is common; capture of excess solar and wind generation that would otherwise be curtailed; and ensured energy security in a country without nuclear options.
Paired with the Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), hydrogen offers the most robust model for green data centres, aligning with Greece’s Updated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). By coupling renewable sources with storage and hydrogen conversion, data centres can become drivers of system-wide efficiency, rather than additional burdens on the grid.
Digitalization as an Enabler of Safety and Autonomy
Mr. Chatzifotis stressed that Motor Oil treats digital transformation as inseparable from hydrogen development. Tools such as digital twins and AI enable predictive safety monitoring, real-time efficiency gains, and compliance with EU certification schemes – critical when integrating renewable hydrogen into complex environments like refineries.
“Digitalization is not a side initiative” he explained. “It is the enabler of resilience of the critical infrastructure.” He stressed that by combining hydrogen with digital tools, we are ensuring that infrastructure is safer, smarter, and strategically autonomous.
Looking Forward
The debate concluded with a call for Europe to seize the opportunity to lead by aligning its digital and energy strategies. As Mr. Chatzifotis put it in closing:
“Europe can lead the next industrial revolution by treating energy and digital as one equation. With innovative projects like EPHYRA and TRIERES, Motor Oil is proving that hydrogen and digital innovation can make infrastructures safer, more efficient, and more resilient.”