The first hydrogen charging station in Bulgaria and the region was unveiled at 11 Iskarsko Shose Street in Sofia on Friday, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) and the HITMOBIL – Technologies and Systems for Clean Energy Generation, Storage and Consumption Centre of Competence with the Academician Evgeni Budevski Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems (IEES) at BAS said.
The hydrogen charging station in Sofia marks the beginning of hydrogen electric mobility in Bulgaria. Aquachim, Monbat and Delectra are the project’s main contractors.
The hydrogen charging station is manufactured by the Austrian company EDC-Anlagentechnik. Hydrogen is produced by electrolysis, with a daily capacity of 8 kilograms per day. The hydrogen produced on-site is fed directly into the hydrogen charging station, where it is compressed to the pressure necessary for refuelling. The station has two charging outlets: 350 bar and 700 bar. The two standard pressures cover the charging capabilities of cars, light trucks and heavy trucks, and the use of high-pressure buffer tanks enables charging within minutes. For larger consumption, the hydrogen charging station can use hydrogen from cylinder groups produced from other sources.
The station's high-pressure vessels can store up to 70 kilograms of compressed hydrogen, which can provide up to 7,000 kilometres of range. Its hydrogen compression capability is some 40-50 kilograms per day, which is enough to refuel 10-15 cars or two buses daily.
The HITMOBIL project is implemented under a grant from the EU-co-financed Operational Programme Science and Education for Smart Growth.
President of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Acad. Julian Revalski pointed out that Bulgaria could be a leading country in the highest innovative technologies in the world.
Bulgarian MEP Tsvetelina Penkova emphasized that the opening of the first hydrogen station in Bulgaria and the region is a huge success, because for the last five years in the European Parliament one of the main topics has been precisely the fuel of the future - hydrogen.
Caretaker Deputy Minister of Innovation and Growth Prof. Georgi Angelov explained that there is a strategic document on hydrogen - the Hydrogen Strategy, where a number of measures and steps are set for the development of hydrogen in the coming years. "We are moving completely in step with the world. In other countries, although more developed economically, this is also just a beginning," he added.
/KK/
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