Shaping the Hydrogen Re-fuelling Network in the Baltic Sea Region

During 9-11 October 2024, the HyTruck project partners met for their fourth meeting in Riga. The first workshop on the Transnational Spatial Development Concept for Hydrogen Refuelling Stations was held on 9 October. The goal was to identify driving factors for a sustainable and economically feasible HRS deployment.

Concerning legislation and support mechanisms, participants noticed:

• EU Legislation and strategies like AFIR, EU Hydrogen Strategy, RED II, and ETS are available. However, their consistent adoption in member states needs to be observed.
• It was common sense that further guidance is needed for planning and permitting HRS and other hydrogen infrastructure, as there is uncertainty in responsible authorities concerning applicable standards, i.e., safety, which finally costs a lot of time.
• More ambitious goals and support mechanisms must be set to support investors, e.g., hydrogen valleys, reliable financial incentives reducing risk, or consequently prioritising zero-emission freight transport.

Concerning the technological HRS ecosystem, participants found:

• More green hydrogen production still needs to be available in the area.
• High losses and purity issues are critical for transporting and storing hydrogen.
• There are too few H2 heavy-duty vehicles available and it’s unclear, what technological standards will be applied: 700 bar / 350 bar, FCEV / ICE, LH2

The high costs of H2 and HRS infrastructure are considered the major disadvantages of this transport option compared to other zero-emission options.

Afterwards, Hadi Farabi and Jorge Velandia-Vargas, Chalmers University of Technology, presented preliminary results of techno-economic and environmental modelling:

• A life-cycle assessment indicates that hydrogen production represents the largest contribution to the truck’s carbon footprint per km. Onsite hydrogen production is a competitive option despite the lower production efficiency, as transmission and distribution are avoided. The use of carbon fibre in compressed hydrogen trucks represents an environmental hotspot in truck manufacturing.
• In the coming decades, the share of H2 in road freight transport can be expected to increase to meet the global energy demand. However, the expansion rate and takeoff time are functions of adopted policies and technological developments in hydrogen-based transportation.
• While the booster compressor HRS design resulted in a slightly higher refuelling cost, it showed better resilience to rush hours and load fluctuations.

On Thursday, 10 October, HyTruck visited the H2 production facility and hydrogen re-fuelling station at Rīgas satiksme, the public transport company of the City of Riga, and saw the technological know-how that was created when developing the production facility and HRS.

Hydrogen is used as a range extender for 10 trolleybuses. Although contributing significantly to better air quality, high H2 production costs and technological issues with the FCEV system negatively influence the economic performance of the FCEV-powered trolleybuses.

In the Freeport of Riga, HyTruck was informed about hydrogen-related projects in Latvia. Those include the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor and activities of the Baltic Hydrogen Group to develop electrolysers and HRS in the Baltics and beyond. HyTruck also heard about the Freeport of Riga’s ambitions to decarbonise operations, including plans to retrofit an icebreaker with FCEV.

On Friday, 11 October, a HyTruck Project Steering Committee meeting was held on the final day. It provided an overview of what has already been achieved and what comes next. The tools and solutions developed by HyTruck research partners and the pilot application in their five pilot regions will be finished by the end of 2024.

The project’s main outcomes – “A transnationally agreed spatial development concept indicating the locations of the HRS” – as well as the “Memorandum of understanding on harmonised technological standards for HRS” are still coming into focus. In Riga, HyTruck had its first discussions about them.

HyTruck could welcome the colleagues from STRING megaregion who are currently running the project GREATER4H, supported by the Connecting Europe Facility.