ORLEN opens a hydrogen station in Poznań

The Poznań station is part of the Clean Cities project, which is co-financed by EU funds under the CEF instrument and national funds from the ‘Green Public Transport’ programme. The station will power a fleet of 25 buses belonging to the Municipal Transport Company in Poznań. ORLEN will supply 1.8 million kilograms of hydrogen fuel over 15 years.

- The production and distribution of alternative fuels is one of the key elements of ORLEN Group's energy transformation. We see great potential in the use of hydrogen particularly in public transport. The construction of filling stations for this fuel is, on the one hand, a response to the growing demand from local governments, such as Poznań, which is developing urban transport towards zero-emission, and on the other hand, an important element in the implementation of the Company's strategic objectives. Hydrogen is a safe, alternative source of energy for transport that reduces carbon dioxide emissions in cities. In this case, it will improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of the capital of Wielkopolska. Over the course of the 15-year agreement, we will supply 1.8 million kilograms of hydrogen to Poznań buses, avoiding 21,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions,’ says Artur Osuchowski, ORLEN Management Board Member for Energy and Energy Transformation.

The hydrogen station in Poznań is located on the premises of the ORLEN fuel station at 231 Warszawska Street, near the Miłostowo tram terminus. The facility operates around the clock and is open to the public, which means that not only MPK Poznań buses, but also all users of hydrogen-fuelled vehicles can take advantage of the refuelling.

ORLEN has made three dispensers available to drivers. Two with a pressure of 350 bar are used for refuelling buses and trucks, while an additional dispenser, with a pressure of 700 bar, is designed for cars. The entire process of refuelling a bus to a full tank takes about 15 minutes. Its daily hydrogen requirement is about 30 kg, which allows it to travel about 350 km. In contrast, the refuelling time for a passenger car, with a 5 kg hydrogen tank, is about 5 minutes. This amount of fuel is sufficient to travel about 600 km.

Hydrogen for the station in Poznań is supplied from the ORLEN Group's production facility in Włocławek. The station allows more than one tonne of hydrogen to be refuelled per day. This is enough to satisfy the needs of 34 city buses, which will eventually be at the disposal of MPK Poznań, and several passenger vehicles.

Hydrogen-powered vehicles have been used since June last year by public transport passengers in Kraków, where ORLEN has launched a pilot station at the Wola Duchacka bus depot. In this case, hydrogen is supplied from Poland's first automotive-quality hydrogen production HUB, located in Trzebinia. Tests of hydrogen-fuelled buses have also been organised in Płock and Katowice, among others.

Later this year, it will be possible to fill up vehicles with hydrogen at the ORLEN station under construction in Katowice. Other hydrogen stations in Bielsko-Biała, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Wałbrzych, Kraków, Włocławek, Gdynia, Piła and Warsaw will be opened successively over the next few years. These facilities will be built as part of Stage II of the Clean Cities - Hydrogen mobility in Poland project. A further 16 stations are planned to be built in Stage III, for which ORLEN received non-refundable record EU funding of EUR 62m in April.

By 2030, ORLEN Group plans to build a network of over 100 hydrogen filling stations for individual, public and cargo transport, road and rail in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Hydrogen will be supplied to them through the construction of a European network of hydrogen hubs, powered by renewable energy sources, and innovative installations converting municipal waste into zero- and low-emission hydrogen. The total assumed capacity of electrolysers in the ORLEN Group by 2030 will be about 1 GW of power, which, combined with waste-to-hydrogen projects, will enable the production of more than 130,000 tonnes per year of renewable hydrogen by the end of this decade.

Source: ORLEN