Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, together with the management and shareholders of HY.City.Bremerhaven, has opened the first public hydrogen filling station in the so-called Climate City. The sustainable hydrogen project, co-initiated by GP JOULE, is now commencing test operations. It will open to the public in March.
After almost five years of planning and construction, the regional, sustainable hydrogen ecosystem HY.City.Bremerhaven is now officially going into operation. Following the finalisation of the hydrogen production plant at Grauwallring at the end of 2024, the filling station at the Zur Hexenbrücke site is now also complete after a year of construction. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz came to the opening. Speaking under the roof of the newly built hydrogen filling station, he said: “We have both the will and the determination to remain a strong and successful industrial country. But this scenario will only be possible in the long term if we organise our prosperity in a climate-neutral manner.”
Cutting the ribbon to mark the opening
The Chancellor cut the ribbon to officially open the filling station together with the Managing Directors of HY.City.Bremerhaven, Andreas Wellbrock and André Steinau, as well as André Kiwitz from the shareholder Green Fuels, SPD Member of Parliament Uwe Schmidt, Bremen’s Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte and Melanie Jessen, Managing Director of the general contractor GP JOULE HYDROGEN.
Subsequently, Andreas Wellbrock showed the Chancellor how to refuel a fuel cell bus. The filling station will now enter a short test phase before opening to the public in March of this year. (The current operating status can be found at any time on the h2.live website and in the h2.live app: https://h2.live)
The first customer of the filling station is BremerhavenBus, whose hydrogen-powered fuel cell buses will refuel there. BremerhavenBus is itself a shareholder in HY.City.Bremerhaven and has already converted part of its vehicle fleet to fuel cell buses.
HY.City.Bremerhaven – local thinking, local action
The hydrogen, which is produced from renewable energies and is therefore green, is supplied by HY.City.Bremerhaven’s own production plant located nearby. “By setting up the first hydrogen ecosystem, we have done pioneering work and created a beacon for Bremerhaven and the surrounding area,” said Managing Director Andreas Wellbrock.
As the primary contractor, GP JOULE HYDROGEN was responsible for acquiring and managing the funding, the debt financing and the contractual structuring. The construction services ranged from site development and approval planning to the grid connection of the hydrogen production plant, the ordering of components, the construction and commissioning of the production plant as well as the filling station. In addition, GP JOULE HYDROGEN will ensure the plants are optimally controlled and monitored.
“After five years, the idea has become reality: Bremerhaven has a hydrogen filling station. This is how you shape the future. Rather than talk about it, just go ahead and do it,” said Uwe Schmidt, directly elected member of the Bundestag for the constituency of Bremen II and Bremerhaven. “Our seaside city is once again a pioneer when it comes to achieving climate neutrality.”
Great importance of hydrogen production for the energy system
For André Steinau, HY.City.Bremerhaven Managing Director and Head of Business Relations at the GP JOULE Group, the production of green hydrogen also has a special significance for the energy transition: “Hydrogen is more than just an energy carrier that can be imported in any quantity. Producing hydrogen in this country – and the rapid development and expansion of the domestic hydrogen economy that this entails – is essential for the energy system to have a future and for the sustainable, low-cost supply of energy to households, industry and transport.”
The HY.City.Bremerhaven project is part of the HyPerformer region Hyways for Future for the establishment of green hydrogen in the transport sector in the Northwest Metropolitan Region. As part of the HyLand programme of the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP2), it received a total of 5.5 million euros in funding support from the Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport. The funding guideline is coordinated by NOW GmbH and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ).
Source original announcement and image credit: GP JOULE