- Air Products (NYSE:APD) and Stadtwerke Hürth have signed an agreement to build and operate a new hydrogen refuelling station.
The filling station will be built on the site at Bonnstraße 232 below the Eschweiler Straße retail park.
In addition to the buses and garbage trucks of Stadtwerke Hürth, it will also offer third parties the opportunity to refuel their vehicles with hydrogen. The refuelling station will be designed to allow refuelling at pressures between 250 and 700 bar. Air Products will not only build the facility, but will also be responsible for its complete operation, including the supply of hydrogen. The opening is planned for 2022.
Stadtwerke Hürth and Air Products have been working together for many years. Air Products supplied Stadtwerke’s first hydrogen refuelling station on the site of the Hürth Knapsack Chemical Park. “We are very pleased to be working with Stadtwerke on this important project,” says Jörg Homberg, General Manager at Air Products Germany. “With the construction of a hydrogen refuelling station that will also offer third party users the opportunity to refuel their vehicles, Stadtwerke Hürth is once again in a pioneering role and is setting an example for sustainable mobility. We support this with our expertise in the construction of hydrogen stations that are easy and safe to use. Our experience allows us to design, build and install a refuelling station which really fits our customers’ needs. We will own, operate and maintain the station. This concept makes it easy for companies to enter the world of hydrogen mobility. We make this technology available without our customers having to become experts here themselves.”
Stadtwerke Hürth currently operates a total of 11 hydrogen buses. Five more hydrogen buses will be added to their fleet by the end of 2021. By then, the entire fleet of 16 buses will have been converted to the new type of drive. “After the conversion of our fleet, we will provide the entire regular operation of the city’s local public transport with one million route kilometres per year in a climate-neutral way,” explains Stefan Welsch, board member of Stadtwerke Hürth AöR and emphasises: “We now have 10 years of experience with hydrogen buses. The technology works excellently; the refuelling process takes no longer than a diesel refuelling. Fuel cells are a benefit for the environment, as hydrogen fuel has zero tank-to-wheel emissions, and we hardly need any spare parts. Therefore, we are considering further projects with hydrogen. Buses and garbage trucks are just the beginning.”
Air Products, with over 60 years of experience in hydrogen production and services, was the obvious partner for this operation. Air Products’ technology has already been used to fuel vehicles at Air Products’ hydrogen stations in 20 countries in Europe and elsewhere and the company has been involved in more than 250 hydrogen fueling projects worldwide. As the world’s largest hydrogen producer, Air Products has extensive experience across the hydrogen value chain. Air Products has the skills and expertise to produce hydrogen using all available production methods and to distribute this increasingly important zero-emission fuel safely, reliably, and economically.
About Air Products
Air Products (NYSE:APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for 80 years. Focused on serving energy, environment and emerging markets, the Company provides essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemical, metals, electronics, manufacturing, and food and beverage. Air Products is also the global leader in the supply of liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment. The Company develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest industrial gas projects, including: gasification projects that sustainably convert abundant natural resources into syngas for the production of high-value power, fuels and chemicals; carbon capture projects; and world-scale carbon-free hydrogen projects supporting global transportation and the energy transition.
The Company had fiscal 2020 sales of $8.9 billion from operations in 50 countries and has a current market capitalization of about $65 billion. More than 19,000 passionate, talented and committed employees from diverse backgrounds are driven by Air Products’ higher purpose to create innovative solutions that benefit the environment, enhance sustainability and address the challenges facing customers, communities, and the world. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
About Stadtwerke Hürth
Stadtwerke Hürth, a public utility company, is the technical service provider for the city of Hürth with about 60,000 inhabitants. With the divisions water/district heating, drainage, roads, public transport, refuse collection and cleaning as well as green spaces, the company employs almost 300 people. Stadtwerke Hürth has been testing hydrogen buses since 2010, making it one of the first in Germany to recognise the potential of this energy carrier for heavy transport. The buses are refuelled at their own filling station in Hürth-Knappsack. In 2022, another hydrogen filling station will be added. It is planned as a public filling station and will be built on the site of Bonnstraße 232 below the Eschweiler retail park.
Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks
