The first hydrogen pumping station in the Czech Republic was launched into operation in Neratovice, central Bohemia, on November 5, after three years of preparations by the Nuclear Research Institute (ÚJV) in co-operation with Linde Gas. It has taken almost three years and three million Euro dollars to complete the station. Three quarters of the costs have been by state and EU subsidies. The station will use gaseous hydrogen pressures of 300 bars and a typical filling of a bus will takes about ten minutes. The project has an annual capacity of 72 thousand meters cubic (about six tons) of hydrogen.
“It’s not just one hydrogen station in the Czech Republic but throughout Central and Eastern Europe,” said Chief Marketing Officer of Linde Pavel Jirsa.
The prototype hydrogen bus in the Czech Republic is called the TriHyBus which was developed by Škoda Plzeň Electric. The bus will be a hybrid and have three complementary power sources – fuel cells, capacitors and batteries.