Six hydrogen filling points will be built in Drenthe in 2020-2021 to boost driving on hydrogen. These are five public refueling points that together form a comprehensive network in the province and one filling point on the site of the Vriend installation company in Coevorden.
Delegate Tjisse Stelpstra: “As a college, we want to support both projects to stimulate driving on hydrogen and the realization of hydrogen refueling points. We are making a financial contribution to Vriend’s initiative and intend to do the same for the five public filling points, provided that the Provincial Council can also agree to this”. The Province of Drenthe itself is also acquiring four hydrogen-powered cars as part of this support action, which will soon be on the road.
Public hydrogen filling points
The five public filling points are located at existing filling stations in Drenthe and can be used flexibly. This means that the filling points can be moved to another location when hydrogen is available at the existing filling stations. The initiative comes from the companies Resato (producer of hydrogen refueling points) from Assen and Orange Gas from Heerenveen. They want to further expand the network from Drenthe to Groningen and Friesland. These are the three northern provinces in the Netherlands. Resato and Orange Gas are working together with Gasunie and Friesland Lease to this end. The initiators want to put the first hydrogen refueling point in Drenthe into operation in July 2020. To realize the filling points, the parties will receive funding from the Drenthe Energy Organisation (DEO), the province’s energy fund. DEO will also work with low-threshold loans to stimulate the purchase of hydrogen cars.
Installation company Vriend on hydrogen
The employees of installation company Vriend froCoevorden will be able to fill up with hydrogen as early as May 2020. The company will have its hydrogen refueling station and six hydrogen-powered cars. Also, the company will set up an educational space together with the Technical Installation Companies Training and Development Fund (OTIB) to introduce students and other interested parties to hydrogen. There they will learn what hydrogen is, how it is made and how it can be applied. Installation Company Vriend is a frontrunner in Drenthe in the field of sustainability and hydrogen and an example for other entrepreneurs.
Read the most up to date Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Industry news at FuelCellsWorks
