ORLEN has been awarded €62m ($66m) of non-repayable funding by the European Union to support plans of establishing 16 hydrogen refuelling stations in Poland.
The Polish oil and gas major will also develop a new green hydrogen production facility in Szczecin, leveraging advanced water electrolysis using renewable energy.
It has been awarded under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility (AFIF) funding, which earmarked hydrogen infrastructure initiatives to receive up to €120m ($127m), with Orlen securing half.
The company can now enable the third phase of its ‘Clean Cities – Hydrogen Mobility in Poland’ project. The first two phases saw eight refuelling stations deployed across Poland, backed by PLN 70m ($17m). Now they will install an additional 16 along the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
“We’re resolute in our mission to spearhead this form of mobility in partnership with local governments across Poland,” explained Grzegorz Józwiak, Head of the Hydrogen Technology and Synthetic Fuels Office.
“The grant we have just received demonstrates that we’re on the right track, resonating with the blueprint endorsed by EU authorities.”
Read more:Major funding announced to ensure Europe’s transition to alternative infrastructure
Orlen plans to develop a network of over 100 hydrogen refuelling stations across Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to serve private, public, cargo, road and rail transport by 2030.
H2 View understands that ORLEN Group’s total electrolyser capacity will reach 1GW by 2030, which combined with its waste-to-hydrogen projects, will produce more than 130,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually.
