‘Record of 107 new hydrogen filling stations opened in 2020’

Last year, a ‘record number’ of 107 new hydrogen filling stations was opened throughout the world, bringing the total to 560 according to the 13th Annual assessment of H2stations.org, an information service by the German system technic bureau LBST. The latter keeps an online map and database of the growing hydrogen infrastructure.

Of these 107 new stations, the bulk of 72 was realized in Asia with Japan (28), Korea (26), China (18). In Europe, 29 were opened, and 6 in the US. Europe counted 200 hydrogen stations by the end of 2020, with Germany accounting for half of that number after adding 14 new ones last year.

Netherlands: 23 extra stations

France follows on a distance with 34 stations operational and 38 new ones planned. The Netherlands has four operational: Helmond, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Hoofddorp. The latest to open in October 2020 was the Shell station at the Den Ruygenhoek near Hoofddorp, being part of the European H2Benelux subsidy program.

That’s a €5,3 million program to subsidize eight hydrogen stations in the Benelux: four in the Netherlands, three in Belgium, and one in Luxembourg. Shell is building three of them in the Netherlands and one in Luxembourg. According to H2stations.org, a record number of 23 are planned for the Netherlands in the coming years.

Colruyt plans 4 more in Belgium

Today, only two public hydrogen filling stations are operational in Belgium: Air Liquide in Zaventem near Brussels and one owned by the Colruyt Group at its headquarters in Halle (Brussel).

The latter is to set up new hydrogen stations through its DATS24 fuel station network in Wilrijk (Antwerpen), Haasrode (Louvain), Herve (Liège), and Erpe-Mere between Brussels and Ghent. ‘Limburg Hydrogen Society,’ a consortium of companies and institutions active in the Belgian province, has the ambition to produce green hydrogen locally and have a filling station operational in Genk by 2023.

Antwerp harbor station

In Antwerp, CMB-TECH, a branch of the Company Maritime Belge (CMB) shipping company, is actually building a public hydrogen filling station at the Port House near the harbor. It will provide both road vehicles and ships with hydrogen at the same time.

A third Walloon hydrogen station is planned at the Liège airport, an important goods hub for air transport to make its ground transport zero-emission. The station will be accessible for the public to and the airport joins forces for this with the John Cockerill Group, a hydrogen specialist via its Energy division.