The regional green hydrogen project of HY.City.Bremerhaven is being implemented

A symbolic ground-breaking ceremony was held on 20 April to mark the start of construction on the lighthouse project of the Climate City. In addition to the shareholders of HY.City.Bremerhaven, Bremerhaven's Lord Mayor Melf Grantz and other political and municipal representatives also took part in the celebratory event. The completion of the two project sites is planned for this summer.

The construction of the 2-megawatt hydrogen production plant at Grauwallring and the building of the public filling station at the "Zur Hexenbrücke" site are important milestones realising the regional green hydrogen project in Bremerhaven, for the implementation of which HY.City.Bremerhaven GmbH & Co. KG was founded specifically for this project. This pioneering work will create a local hydrogen ecosystem in Bremerhaven and supply climate-neutral fuel for the transport sector. "The ground-breaking ceremony for the planned hydrogen filling station in Bremerhaven is not only a symbolic act, but also an important step on the way to emission-free mobility and a sustainable future. Together with regional partners, we are building a green hydrogen infrastructure and creating the conditions for refuelling with 100% green and regionally produced hydrogen - to ensure a liveable future and a clean environment," explained André Steinau, Managing Director at GP JOULE HYDROGEN GmbH and HY.City.Bremerhaven.

The public hydrogen filling station next to the BremerhavenBus premises is supplied directly with sufficient green hydrogen from the production plant on Grauwallring with the help of mobile storage units. In future, cars, trucks and buses will be able to fill up with the regionally produced hydrogen at the 350-bar and 700-bar pumps. "The filling station offers our city and the surrounding area a very good opportunity to facilitate the switch to hydrogen for private and commercial use. This attractive offer expands Bremerhaven's climate-friendly strategy and shows that green hydrogen will soon be produced locally by wind turbines," said Sönke Allers, chairman of the SPD parliamentary group in Bremerhaven's city council, pleased with the start of construction.

Initially, seven hydrogen buses are planned as permanent consumers of the regionally produced hydrogen in Bremerhaven's local transport system. Three of them have already been operated by BremerhavenBus since the end of 2022. The next step is to increase the number of buses Buses to at least ten. The capacity of the planned electrolysis plant is sufficient to refuel up to 34 buses per day. "After the start of hydrogen buses at BremerhavenBus in December 2022, another important milestone is being created in Bremerhaven with the use of hydrogen. The new hydrogen filling station opens up a large market for mobility by private and commercial users of hydrogen vehicles," said Thorsten Raschen, CDU parliamentary group chairman in the Bremerhaven city council. And Professor Dr. Hauke Hilz, deputy leader of the FDP parliamentary group in Bremen, joined in: "I am very pleased that we are making an offer to the people of Bremerhaven with the hydrogen filling station and at the same time ensuring that the hydrogen buses are supplied with fuel. Hydrogen mobility is now possible for everyone."

The electricity needed to produce the hydrogen is generated by wind turbines on the Speckenbüttel industrial estate. The hydrogen buses that will be used by BremerhavenBus in regular service in the future will therefore be producing no CO2. They are also significantly quieter than vehicles with combustion engines, with the same range and a similarly short refuelling time. Using these vehicles not only improves the climate balance of public transport in Bremerhaven, but also ensures better air quality and more peace and quiet in the city.

"With our partners and the support from politics and administration, we are now moving further into the implementation phase," says Andreas Wellbrock, Managing Director of Hy.City.Bremerhaven and Green Fuels GmbH. "In this way we are establishing the hydrogen ecosystem in Bremerhaven as an important milestone for a climate-neutral transport sector. This project will be followed by others, some of which we are already working on, and Bremerhaven will gain importance throughout Germany as a beacon of the hydrogen economy."

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About HY.City.Bremerhaven

In Bremerhaven, hydrogen will be produced for local public transport from summer 2023. To this end, HY.City.Bremerhaven GmbH & Co. KG is building and operating an electrolysis plant with a capacity of 2 megawatts and a public hydrogen filling station in front of the Bremerhaven Versorgungs- und Verkehrsgesellschaft GmbH (Bremerhaven Bus) depot. The founders and main shareholders are GP JOULE and the Bremerhaven-based start-up Green Fuels. Other shareholders are BremerhavenBus, UTG Unabhängige Tanklogistik, Georg Grube Verwaltung, the Seier Group and the Diersch & Schröder Group, who are thus jointly proactively committed to the emerging hydrogen economy.

Press contact
Jürn Kruse
Corporate Communications
GP JOULE Gruppe
j.kruse@gp-joule.de 
Tel. +49 (0) 4671-6074-213
Mobil +49 (0) 160-1540265
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