Representatives from politics and industry celebrated the commissioning of the regional, sustainable hydrogen ecosystem yesterday – an important milestone for emission-free mobility in the region. The construction work at the hydrogen production plant and refuelling station was completed after five years of planning and construction. Refuelling at the 350 bar and 700 bar fuel pumps has already begun. Now the refuelling station will go into trial operation and will provide regionally produced green hydrogen for buses, trucks and cars. The construction of the electrolysis plant and the refuelling station was funded by the Federal Ministry of Transport with a total of around 5.5 million euros.
At the opening, Dr. Claudia Elif Stutz, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport said: “HY.Kiel shows how future technology can become a reality: Green hydrogen, locally produced, makes emission-free mobility in Kiel possible. Our federal funding supports projects that not only advance climate protection, but also strengthen regions and generate new opportunities for the economy and society.”
The construction of the electrolysis plant and the hydrogen refuelling station for the HY.Kiel project is funded under the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP) with a total of around 5.5 million euros by the Federal Ministry of Transport. The funding for the construction of the hydrogen refuelling station is also being provided as part of the German Recovery and Resilience Plan (DARP) through the European Recovery and Resilience Facility (ARF) in the NextGenerationEU program. The funding programme is coordinated by the National Organisation Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW GmbH) and implemented by Project Management Jülich (PtJ).
The two-megawatt electrolysis plant will produce up to 180 tonnes of green hydrogen annually. That corresponds to an emission-free overall range of up to 26,500 km per day and therefore a saving of 2,000 tonnes CO2 per year.
“Our joint project HY.Kiel is the result of a common vision for the future held by all stakeholders and will make a significant contribution to decarbonising transport in and around Kiel over the coming years”, said Dr. Thorben Hänel-Muhs. “With the opening of our refuelling station we are driving forward and enabling emission-free mobility in the Kiel region, particularly in passenger and heavy-duty transport. Combined with modern and intelligent storage technologies, we are using HY.Kiel as a building block for further potential in sector coupling.”
Other plans include deploying two fuel cell buses from Autokraft, a subsidiary of DB Regio Bus Nord, in the local public transport of the Rendsburg-Eckernförde district. Other regional companies from the logistics and commercial sectors have already expressed interest in using hydrogen-powered vehicles. The green hydrogen produced in Kiel – manufactured with electricity from renewable energies – can also be used in industry or delivered to other refuelling stations.
Further information can be found here.
Source: www.gp-joule.com
Photo: GP Joule/HY.Kiel
