A hydrogen station capable of delivering 750 kilograms of hydrogen per day opened on Friday in Hamburg’s HafenCity development, supplied by power company Vattenfall. It is Europe’s largest and will deliver fuel for twenty fuel cell buses operated by public transport authority Hamburger Hochbahn as well as making hydrogen available for fuel cell cars. The cost of around €10 million was shared by Vattenfall and the German Federal Ministry of Transport.

Half the hydrogen is produced on site by electrolysis of water using renewable energy and the other half is delivered. At the inauguration of the station, Pieter Wasmuth, Executive Vice President of Vattenfall, said that hydrogen storage is a key technology in the integration of a growing proportion of electricity from wind power and photovoltaics into the German energy system. The inauguration was attended by Frank Horch, Senator of Commerce of the city of Hamburg, and Rainer Bomba, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development.

The station is part of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP), in which Vattenfall is involved with other partners in creating hydrogen infrastructure in Germany. It is also part of the National Innovation Programme for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology (NIP) and the energy concept for Hamburg, which was agreed late last year between the city and Vattenfall.