Building a Refuelling Station Is Not Enough
www.posiv.cz ǀ 23
HYDROGEN
clear targets, including, for example,
the number of hydrogen vehicles
and refuelling stations, as well as total
hydrogen consumption of 20,000 tonnes
per year by 2030. What we need, therefore,
is greater support for the deployment
of these technologies, rather than holding
them back by restricting which ‘colours’
of hydrogen – in other words, which
sources of hydrogen – are considered
acceptable.
APT is preparing another hydrogen
refuelling station, including one
in the Zlín Region. What can you
publicly confirm about it at this stage?
Vladimír Dynda: It is a public
hydrogen refuelling station offering
both 350 and 700 bar refuelling
pressures and operating as a stand-
alone system, with hydrogen produced
by an electrolyser directly on site.
The investor is Solar Global Service, a.s.
The group operates in the energy sector
and has access to sufficient renewable
electricity. The station will therefore be
the first to supply exclusively renewable –
or, if you prefer, green – hydrogen.
The plan is to use this new hydrogen
refuelling station and its renewable
hydrogen to refuel ten regional public
transport buses in the Zlín Region. We
have also expanded the technology
to allow pressure cylinders to be filled
with this green hydrogen at 5.0 purity
for use by other customers interested
in renewable hydrogen.
Commissioning is scheduled for late
October or early November. All equipment
has now been delivered to the site
and final installation is under way.
In October, the necessary procedures will
be carried out to verify the station’s safety
and operational readiness before it is put
into service.
What is currently missing
for the Moravian-Silesian Region
to move beyond individual hydrogen
projects and create an integrated value
chain spanning production, storage
and distribution through to stable
end users?
Vladimír Dynda: What is needed is goodwill
in coordinating the region’s overall
strategy, without individual interests
getting in the way and with the support
of all available resources. The experience
gained in this way could also lead
to the creation of new organisational
structures with specific roles, for example
in hydrogen distribution or specialised
services focused on quality control
and safety. There definitely needs
to be a connection between hydrogen
producers, refuelling station operators
and transport fleet operators.
Jan Světlík: Hydrogen projects are growing
worldwide, and I hope that the Moravian-
Silesian Region will develop a strong
hydrogen strategy and successfully
put it into practice. If public hydrogen
transport is introduced, the approach
should be to start with local projects
and gradually connect and expand them.
However, the situation in the Czech
Republic is further complicated by the lack
of a suitable source of clean hydrogen.
Your song ‘Což takhle dát si vodík’
is also well known within the hydrogen
community. Does the Czech hydrogen
sector need more optimism today?
Vladimír Dynda: People really do seem
to like the song, and it has inspired me
to write some new lyrics. Hopefully, we
will soon have an opportunity to share
it publicly. Everything is easier with a smile
– and perhaps even easier with a nice
melody. Hydrogen needs attention.
It represents one of the possible pathways
towards decarbonisation and is part
of the efforts being made by a modern
society. I would like hydrogen to be
a source of optimism for us, rather than
something that consumes it!