PLN 20 million in funding for the construction of five public hydrogen refueling stations

Funding was provided under the NFOŚiGW priority program "Support for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and hydrogen refueling infrastructure." The aim of this program is to develop infrastructure that reduces the number of vehicles emitting CO2 and NOx, and thus improve air quality. Beneficiaries of the program may include local governments, entrepreneurs and cooperatives, as well as housing communities or individual farmers. 

Under the project, five hydrogen stations will be built in Wroclaw, Rybnik, Gdansk, Gdynia and Lublin. The facilities are to be built by June 30, 2024, at which time the stations are scheduled to begin operating and selling hydrogen fuel.

The construction of the stations is expected to enable the refueling of vehicles using electricity for propulsion. This energy will be obtained from hydrogen, which is becoming an alternative to the traditional way of obtaining fuel from oil.

- We want more hydrogen stations to be built throughout Poland. We are particularly keen on developing environmentally friendly transportation in large cities. This will reduce CO2 and NOx emissions, which will in turn improve air quality. ZE PAK is another Polish company that will benefit from a program prepared by the Ministry of Climate and Environment in conjunction with the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, supporting the development of hydrogen refueling infrastructure. ZE PAK's hydrogen stations, which will be built in five cities, are an important part of the hydrogen economy ecosystem - said Ireneusz Zyska, Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment and Government Plenipotentiary for Renewable Energy Sources.

Transportation, he added, is one of the first areas where hydrogen will find widespread use.

- I congratulate ZE PAK on its business acumen in implementing innovative technologies in transportation, and thank NFOŚiGW for supporting Polish entrepreneurs in this process. Recently, the Fund signed an agreement to subsidize the construction of hydrogen stations with PKN Orlen. These activities significantly strengthen the process of building a new sector of the economy, which translates into gaining competitive advantages for our entrepreneurs - Zyska said.

Artur Michalski, deputy chairman of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, said that the newly established hydrogen stations will be a great convenience for the organization of hydrogen public transportation, and is additionally a very innovative project.

- In addition to its many conveniences, this investment is also an excellent advertisement for this type of transportation. It will make our mode of transportation more innovative and environmentally friendly - Michalski said.

According to the assumptions of PAK-PCE STACJE H2 Sp. z o.o., in the initial period it is planned to use about 30% of the market capacity of each of the five hydrogen refueling stations, which will allow more than 10,000 refuelings of buses and other hydrogen vehicles. 

It is assumed that with the development of the hydrogen market in Poland, the use of hydrogen stations will increase and by 2032 will reach a level of about 85 percent. In addition, in the area of hydrogen transportation, a project is underway to purchase hydrogen buses that will be used to transport hydrogen fuel. 

The ZE PAK Group and the POLSAT PLUS GROUP are also pursuing a project to build a hydrogen bus factory and an electrolysis plant to produce hydrogen using alkaline and PEM-type electrolyzers. They are consistently pursuing a strategy to build zero- and low-carbon sources of electricity generation and the full value chain of the hydrogen economy. The construction of a hydrogen refueling station is one link in this chain, which aims to maximize the uptake of this fuel both among institutional customers such as municipal public transport companies, as well as among individual customers who care about improving the environment.

The funding agreement was signed at the headquarters of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management by Water, Artur Michalski, deputy chairman of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, Andrzej Janiszowski, chairman of the board of PAK-PCE STACJE H2 Sp. z o.o., and Katarzyna Sobierajska, member of the board of PAK-PCE STACJE H2 Sp. z o.o.. The event was attended by Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment Ireneusz Zyska.