Orlen plans hydrogen hubs and 100 hydrogen stations across Czechia, Poland Slovakia

The Orlen Group is to develop an international chain of hydrogen hubs powered by renewable energy sources to produce hydrogen from municipal waste, H2 Bulletin reports.

Under the project ‘Hydrogen Eagle’, the company will build six new RES-powered hydrogen hubs where two will be located in Poland, two in the Czech Republic, and one in Slovakia. This will also include plans to build a hydrogen electrolysis plant which will source power from the Baltic Power offshore wind farm and photovoltaics. The capacity of the electrolysis plants will be around 250 MW and achieve an annual hydrogen production capacity of about 50k tonnes/year by 2030.

In addition to this, it also plans the construction of three innovative plants for converting municipal waste into low-emission hydrogen, to be located in Płock and Ostrołęka in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The project also aims for an international network of 102 hydrogen refuelling stations where 54, 22, and 26 hydrogen refuelling stations for individual, public and cargo transport will be built in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, respectively.

PKN Orlen has launched a tender to build Poland’s first hydrogen refuelling stations in Poznań and Katowice, while there is also a plan to build six stations in the Czech Republic.

The Hydrogen Eagle implementation will help to reduce carbon emissions and develop renewable energy sources significantly. These low-emission production technologies will reduce CO2 emissions by around 1 million tonnes annually.

The project has successfully passed a review by the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology in the competition for projects in hydrogen technologies and systems under the IPCEI mechanism, and now in the next step is the support from the European Commission.

Meanwhile, Under the project, in Germany, pilot hydrogen refuelling points are in operation at the Group’s service stations in Wolfsburg and Müllheim, while total hydrogen production capacity of over 1,000 kg per hour are being built in Włocławek, Trzebinia and Płock. The hubs will supply hydrogen to HR stations for individual and public transport.

Daniel Obajtek, President of the PKN Orlen Management Board, said, “Entering the market of sustainable hydrogen production will give us competitive advantages in the retail, refining and power generation business in the decades to come. It will also allow us to significantly reduce our carbon footprint, marking an important step towards achieving carbon neutrality in 2050.”