The Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) is supporting the city of Cuxhaven in the procurement of a hydrogen-powered waste collection vehicle.

“Cuxhaven is showing the courage to implement such a project,” said Parliamentary State Secretary Enak Ferlemann when presenting the funding notification of around 695,000 euros to Cuxhaven’s Lord Mayor Uwe Santjer and Horst Müller, Head of Technical Services of the City of Cuxhaven.

Hydrogen is regarded as a climate-friendly energy medium if produced with electricity from renewable energy sources. The so-called green hydrogen can serve as a basis for fuels to replace the use of coal, oil and natural gas in industry and transport, for example. As the German Offshore Industry Centre, Cuxhaven aspires to become an anchor point for the growing hydrogen economy. The city administration is leading the way. Besides receiving a funding notice for a fuel cell-powered vehicle for the professional fire brigade, it is now also seeking to adapt its vehicle fleet to be climate-friendly by receiving another funding notice in the area of technical services – more precisely, in the area of waste collection.

The deployment of alternative powertrains in the transport sector is of considerable importance for the implementation of the federal government’s CO2 reduction targets. To this end, the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) has, among other things, launched a funding programme for waste collection and sweeping vehicles as part of the National Innovation Programme Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP 2).

The city of Cuxhaven is a member of the “Hyways for Future” consortium. This project aims to establish climate-friendly hydrogen in the fields of industry, energy supply and transport, which represents a viable alternative to conventional combustion engine technology, particularly in heavy goods transport. In order to take the first concrete steps in this direction, a funding application for the procurement of a hydrogen-powered waste collection vehicle was submitted by the Technical Services of the City of Cuxhaven. The administration was awarded the contract and on Tuesday received the funding decision amounting to around 695,000 euros, which was handed over by Parliamentary State Secretary Enak Ferlemann to Cuxhaven’s Lord Mayor Uwe Santjer and Horst Müller, Head of Technical Services of the City of Cuxhaven. “The vehicles of the building yard are in use on a daily basis in the city area and produce around 600 tonnes of CO2 per year. With the move to new drive systems, we would like to be on the road with clean, emission-free vehicles in the city area in the future and contribute to the goals of the federal government,” says Horst Müller. And Cuxhaven’s mayor Uwe Santjer adds: “We are striving to be both a role model and an inspiration for other cities and communities. For this purpose, we as the German Offshore Industry Centre want to successfully implement these projects – not least thanks to the support of the federal and state governments.”

In order to potentially be able to use the first hydrogen-powered vehicle in the area of waste collection by the end of 2022, the responsible parties will enter into talks for a corresponding vehicle in the near future. Initial considerations envisage using a so-called rotating drum-type vehicle in Cuxhaven.

And so that the vehicles can also be refuelled locally in the future, planning for the first hydrogen refuelling station in Cuxhaven is being simultaneously conducted by the Agency for Economic Development.

 

Photo: Enak Ferlemann, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport (2nd from right), presented Lord Mayor Uwe Santjer (2nd from left) (pictured here with the Head of the Waste Management Authority, Horst Müller (left), and Mayor Bernd Jothe (right)) with a funding notification last Tuesday. Image source: City of Cuxhaven