Hürth will have 1st Hydrogen filling station in the Cologne region
Hürth, September 18th 2009
“By starting the ‘Chemergy’ project, we will enter a new hydrogen world,” assures Dr. Albrecht Möllmann, president of ‘HyCologne – Wasserstoff Region Rheinland e.V.’ “Because the project will create a modular filling station exactly where hydrogen is produced.” This location situated directly at Chemiepark Hürth is a first step in the Cologne region to use hydrogen produced in the chemical industry to drive vehicles.
In the Cologne region, there are seven industrial facilities producing hydrogen as a by-product – and in large amounts. Most of it is used by the industry itself, but some eight percent could be used as energy carrier, especially for traffic applications. This would be sufficient to permanently supply and drive more than 500 busses or 40,000 passenger cars. “Therefore, it makes perfect sense to use an innovative project model like ‘Chemergy’ to demonstrate how effective it is to offer such fuel potentials directly at the location,” says Möllmann. He is convinced that only such an infrastructure of short ways has a fair chance to be accepted on the market. This positive effect is heightened by the charm of this pollution-free energy carrier which is especially climate- and environment-friendly.
In addition, the German Federal government has declared its intention to supply more than one billion Euros for the NIP project (National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology) to increase the interest of the first urban centres for hydrogen use and ensure a demand mainly from fleet operators. This is why the new modular filling station should supply two hydrogen busses of the ‘Phileas’ type with fuel cell hybrid technology, starting in spring 2010. These city busses will we tested for everyday usability - in a cooperation project with the City of Amsterdam (that operates two more hydrogen busses) – in day-to-day use from 2010 onwards.
Dr. Ahrens-Salzsieder, head of Stadtwerke Hürth comments: “We do not have a missionary approach, but we hope that the success of this project will also convince other regions and transport operators that such modular filling stations will provide very promising future prospects for integrated hydrogen and fuel cell technology.” So, from 2011 onwards the first stage of the infrastructure shall be extended in a modular way to provide fuel to larger vehicle fleets. A second hydrogen filling station is planned in the direct vicinity of the bus depot as well as additional filling stations in the Cologne region. As soon as a sufficient amount of suitable vehicles is available on the market, these filling stations will be supplied with industrial hydrogen which issignificantly cheaper than hydrogen from other sources.
The ‘Chemergy’ initiative with its filling station in Hürth is a valuable contribution to the ‘NRW Hydrogen HyWay’ leading from Chemiepark Knapsack alongside the existing hydrogen pipelines north of Cologne and Düsseldorf to the Ruhr area. “Thus, the ‘Chemergy’ project will be a milestone for electric traffic & transport concepts that are both economically viable and environmentally friendly, most of all through competitive fuel costs and the favourable local situation,” emphasizes Ahrens-Salzsieder.
The ‘Chemergy’ project is formed by several partners: public utilities Stadtwerke Hürth AöR as initiator plus Air Products Deutschland GmbH, InfraServ GmbH & Co. Knapsack KG, IGH2 – InnovationsGesellschaft Wasserstoff mbH and Praxair Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG as suppliers. Responsible for the project organization is HyCologne – Wasserstoff Region Rheinland.
