The heart of the hydrogen gas fuelling facility was successfully installed at the new hydrogen fuelling station on Holzmarktstrasse in Berlin: the compressor module ensures that the hydrogen gas is at the right pressure.

Statoil, a member of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) jointly developed a new compressor with Andreas Hofer Hochdrucktechnik GmbH, a company specialising in high-pressure equipment: The compressor is responsible for centrally controlling both the fuelling unit and the storage tank, and brings the hydrogen gas to a pressure of 1000 bar. Just a few years ago, the dry-running piston compressors used for hydrogen could only handle pressures of up to 180 bar, Statoil and Andreas Hofer Hochdrucktechnik GmbH have made pressures of 460 and 1000 bar possible by using new materials.

At the Clean Energy Partnership hydrogen fuelling station by TOTAL, Statoil and Linde, two compressor arrays are used. The first brings the hydrogen from around 30 to 460 bar and stores it in large underground hydrogen tanks. A second array increases the pressure to 1000 bar. The hydrogen is then made available for fuelling the hydrogen vehicles in an above-ground tank.  Here, the latest generation of fuel-cell vehicles “gases up” at 700 bar – a storage pressure that enables reaches of over 500 km.

Another milestone on the path to introducing hydrogen as a fuel has been reached.

The next step will involve installing an innovative new Statoil electrolyser, which handles the on-site hydrogen production. Details to follow.