A new agreement has been signed, in which Lhyfe has agreed to both build and operate a green hydrogen production plant. The purpose of this plant will be for it to support DB Energie’s plans for zero-emission trains.

In order to complete this agreement, Lhyfe will have help from Deutsche Bahn, who has agreed to collaborate with Lhyfe over the development of the facility. The plan is for the facility to be based at DB Energie’s Tübingen innovation hub, which is located in Germany. The expectation of this hub is for it to be able to produce an estimated thirty tonnes on an annual basis.

To fulfil this production requirement, the 1MW plant will use green electricity that the company will source from Deutsche Bahn’s portfolio. Once the electricity is secured, it will then be put to use to produce green hydrogen for DB Energie’s H2goesRail project.

Once this part of the project is complete, the next steps will involve the initiative using green hydrogen to power a zero-emission train. This train is planned to be put into operation at a later point in 2024 and it will be placed on a test route that runs through Baden-Württemberg, between Tübingen, Horb and Pforzheim.

On top of this, Lhyfe will also focus on directly coupling the hydrogen production system with a filling station, as part of the project. Lhyfe has stated that the company is aware of the challenges that will come with the commissioning of this complex system, due to the different dynamics the company will have to handle. These difficulties cover a variety of different components and will affect the project across production to multiple compression, as well as storage and refuelling.

Head of Central and Eastern Europe at Lhyfe, Luc Graré, commented, “Sustainable energy sources and innovative technologies are needed to decarbonise the transport sector. One of these technologies is hydrogen-powered trains, which are a clean and efficient alternative to conventional diesel-powered trains as they’re virtually CO2-free. The H2goesRail project is a pioneer in the field of passenger and freight transportation.”