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Filling up with hydrogen at the supermarket

Colruyt opens first hydrogen filling station with fuelling nozzles of Teesing

Geert Bourgeois, Prime Minister of Flanders

"The opening of a hydrogen filling station based on locally produced green energy is a new step for the Colruyt Group towards sustainable mobility. Flanders has ambitious goals for the transition to sustainable energy and clean mobility. We want 20 hydrogen filling stations by 2020. Partly thanks to investments by companies such as the Colruyt Group."

Colruyt Group - mainly known in Belgium for its supermarket chain - has opened its first public hydrogen filling station. The special thing is that this is the first filling station that combines hydrogen filling with filling up with petrol, diesel and LNG. In addition, the hydrogen is produced on site from wind turbine energy. Teesing believes that consumer acceptance of hydrogen will only be successful if refuelling is easy and safe.

This can be achieved by using filling pistols that are very similar to filling up with petrol.

Is hydrogen gonna be it?

Because green electricity is not constantly available (due to the absence of sun or wind), there is a need to temporarily store the energy. Hydrogen seems to be the most appropriate means of achieving this and plays a major role in the climate agreement. The energy from offshore wind farms would then be converted into hydrogen and stored underground. In the event of a peak demand for energy, the hydrogen can be converted back into electricity. Or possibly transported directly to the consumer through the current gas pipeline network when everyone is off the gas in the future. Your total energy needs at home would then be covered by hydrogen, including filling up your car.

Photo: filling nozzle for hydrogen or CNG of Teesing

Easy to use

There are now four hydrogen filling stations in the Netherlands at the beginning of 2019. In order to increase the support for hydrogen, work is now being done at a rapid pace to expand to approximately 20 by 2020. Colruyt will also open 4 new filling stations in Belgium in the near future. Filling with hydrogen looks simple for the consumer but is very complex. This is mainly due to the high pressure of 700 Bar with which it is pumped. In this way a car can be filled within 3 minutes and the energy density is much higher. This gives the cars a greater range. Despite these high technical requirements, manufacturer WEH managed to produce a filling pistol that is easy to connect to the car and easy to handle. The filling pistol can even communicate electronically with the car.

Ed Nijpels, Chairman of the Climate Tables

"As far as we're concerned, hydrogen is the key to the energy transition."

Is hydrogen green?

A hydrogen-powered car only emits water. This makes it a very sustainable energy carrier. But whether it is green depends on how the hydrogen is made. Making hydrogen requires a lot of electricity. If it is generated sustainably, the hydrogen is "green". Sometimes hydrogen is the residual product of a chemical process, in that case it is called "blue" hydrogen, an intermediate form between green and grey. An example of this is the filling station in Delfzijl, where the hydrogen is the residual product of the Akzo plant.

What role does Teesing play exactly?

For Colruyt, Teesing supplies the filling pistols, the hoses and the break-away coupling - a safety device to ensure that there is no damage when the car drives off with the hose still attached. In addition to H2 filling pistols, Teesing also supplies filling pistols and accessories for LNG. The only manufacturer that supplies high quality products in this area is WEH from Germany, which is distributed exclusively by Teesing on the Benelux market.

Raimond Leijder (Account Manager Hydrogen Products)

"Hydrogen can make an important contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from transport and industry and improve the quality of life for people and animals. ”

Photo: filling nozzles, tubes and break-away couplings for hydrogen from Teesing

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