With the opening of the hydrogen filling station, the city of Freiburg, the city’s waste management and urban cleaning services (ASF), and the regional energy supplier (badenova) are sending a strong signal for sustainable mobility and the municipal energy transition. The pioneering project is an important milestone on the way to establishing a self-sufficient hydrogen supply on the site of a former landfill in the north of Freiburg.
A significant proportion of ASF’s municipal vehicle fleet, including 22 waste collection vehicles, is already powered by fuel cells. Thanks to the new filling station, these vehicles can now be filled with gaseous hydrogen directly on the landfill site. The filling station has a compressor station in which ionic liquid is used as an operating fluid. This allows the hydrogen to be compressed to over 900 bar(g). In combination with the pre-cooling of the hydrogen, fast and efficient refuelling of the vehicles is ensured by using the overflow process. The next step is the local production of green hydrogen. ASF Solar will put the necessary infrastructure into operation during the first quarter of 2026. A compact 1 MW PEM electrolyser will produce the hydrogen from a 2.5 MW photovoltaic system and treated well water. Additional low- and high-pressure storage tanks with a total capacity of 630 kg of hydrogen and a further dispenser will ensure a continuous supply of hydrogen to the filling station. Full supply of the fleet with locally produced green hydrogen is planned for the beginning of the second quarter of 2026. The BERNARD Gruppe is supporting the overall project in all service phases (1-9 acc. to German fee structure HOAI). We are delighted to be playing a key role in the realisation of this forward-looking project.
Jonas Morawa, BERNARD Gruppe
