Orlen has launched the first stationary hydrogen filling station for cars, trucks and buses in Prague in the Czech Republic. The company announces that Orlen’s first hydrogen stations in Poland will be built later this year in Poznań and Katowice.

The Orlen Benzina filling station in Prague’s Barrandov district is fully self-service and available to the public 24 hours a day. Drivers can use two dispensers (with specially shaped noses): one with a higher pressure of 700 bar, designed for cars, and one with a pressure of 350 bar for filling trucks and buses.

The estimated cost of building such an H2 filling station (dispensers, compressed hydrogen tanks, associated infrastructure) is at least around 20 million PLN. 

“The construction of hydrogen infrastructure in Central Europe will enable us to become a leader in the implementation of a hydrogen economy based on zero-emission transport. Our goal is to build more than 100 refuelling stations in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia by the end of this decade, which will be an integral part of hydrogen transport corridors in Europe and contribute to achieving climate neutrality in the region”, says Daniel Obajtek, CEO of PKN Orlen. 

The creation of a network of more than 100 stations will cost approximately PLN 2 billion (the construction of the infrastructure is supported by EU funds and, in Poland, by a grant from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management), of which more than PLN 1 billion will be invested by PKN Orlen in the development of hydrogen retail in Poland.

According to H2.live, there are currently 163 hydrogen filling stations operating in Europe, with a further 46 under construction. ACEA – the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association – recommends that by 2025 there should be at least 300 such stations operating on our continent, and by 2030 no fewer than 1,000. Orlen Group would thus have an approximate 10% share of the European market.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński