Hydrogen refueling at the supermarket

Colruyt opens first hydrogen fueling station wiht fueling pistols from Teesing

Geert Bourgeois, Minister-President of Flanders
"Opening a hydrogen fueling station based on locally produced green energy is a new step for the Colruyt Group on the road to sustainable mobility. Flanders has ambitious goals for the transition to sustainable energy and clean mobility. In 2020 we want 20 hydrogen filling stations. Thanks in part to investments by companies like the Colruyt Group."

Colruyt Group - best known in Belgium for its supermarket chain - has opened its first public hydrogen fueling station. The special feature is that this is the first filling station that combines hydrogen refueling with gasoline, diesel and LNG refueling. Moreover, the hydrogen is produced on site from wind turbine energy. Teesing believes that consumer acceptance of hydrogen will be successful only if refueling is easy and safe.

This can be achieved by using refill guns that closely resemble gasoline refueling.

Is hydrogen going to 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 appropriate means for this and plays a major role in the climate agreement. Energy from offshore wind farms would then be converted into hydrogen and stored underground. At peak energy demand, the hydrogen could be converted back to electricity. Or possibly transported directly to consumers through the current gas pipeline network when everyone is off gas in the future. Your total energy needs at home would then be covered by hydrogen, including fueling your car.

Photo: filling nozzle for hydrogen or CNG of Teesing

Easy to operate fueling nozzle

There are now, in early 2019, four hydrogen refueling stations in the Netherlands. To increase support for hydrogen, work is now moving quickly to expand to about 20 by 2020. Colruyt is also going to open four new filling stations in Belgium in the near future. Filling up with hydrogen looks simple to the consumer but is very complex. This is mainly due to the high pressure of 700 Bar with which it is pumped. This way a car can be filled within 3 minutes and the energy density is much higher. This gives the cars a greater radius of action. Despite these high technical requirements, we managed to produce a filling gun that is easy to connect to the car and easy to handle. The filler gun can even communicate electronically with the car.

Ed Nijpels, chairman of the Climate Tables
"Hydrogen is the key to the energy transition as far as we are concerned."

Is hydrogen green?
A hydrogen-powered car emits only water. That 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 which case it is called "blue" hydrogen, an intermediate form between green and gray. An example is the filling station in Delfzijl, where the hydrogen is the residual product of the Akzo plant there.

Exactly what role does Teesing play?

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

Raimond Leijder (Hydrogen Products Account Manager)
"Hydrogen can make significant contributions to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from traffic & industry and increase livability for people and animals."

Foto: vulpistolen, slangen en break-away koppelingen voor waterstof van Teesing