New Hydrogen Station To Bring More Green Hydrogen To German Roads

RWE and Westfalen Group are building a hydrogen refueling station.

A new hydrogen station, which will be located in Lingen, Germany, is being built by RWE and Westfalen Group. RWE, a multinational energy company, will own the station while Westfalen, a producer and seller of industrial gases and services, will be responsible for its operations. This partnership marks the first joint undertaking by these two German companies.

There will be an H2 station and filing line.

The hydrogen station, known as the “H2 Filling Hub Lingen” will be made up of a public hydrogen refueling station and a filling station. The public H2 station will be open to commercial vehicles and will be located at the main gate of the RWE Emsland gas-fired power plant (KEM). As for the filling station, this will not be open to the public and will cater specifically to tanker vehicles.

The H2 refueling station will be capable of providing as much as 500 kg of hydrogen daily. To give this greater context, a hydrogen fuel cell truck can consume as much as 10 kg of hydrogen per 100 km (62.1 mi).

The green hydrogen supplied to both sites will come from RWE’s 14-MW pilot electrolyzer in Lingen. The entre system can process more than 2,500 kg of hydrogen daily. This electrolyzer is slated to begin operations soon. As for the station, it is expected to be up and running in 2025.

The public hydrogen station is aimed at commercial vehicles.

As previously mentioned, the hydrogen station will be opened to the public, supplying fuel to commercial operators of hydrogen trucks, hydrogen cars, buses and waste collection vehicles. As for the filling station, it will be open to companies that sign a purchase agreement with RWE to collect H2 with tank trailers and transport the fuel to their sites of operations.

Commenting on the new H2 filing infrastructure, Dr. Sopna Sury, COO Hydrogen at RWE Generation SE said that the station presents an opportunity for clean fuel to reach the customer via road until they can be connected to a hydrogen distribution network. This allows companies to make the switch to hydrogen and reach their climate targets at an early stage, Sury added.

The start of a long partnership.

RWE and Westfalen Group’s hydrogen station project is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport Affairs (BMDV). The companies are starting with this project but have plans to expand their hydrogen fuel station network in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. The companies have created a joint venture under the name “two4H2”.

According to the CEO of Westfalen Group, Dr. Thomas Perkmann, the hydrogen station and filling station in Lingen are only “the first visible signs” of the hydrogen collaboration between RWE and Westfalen.