Vienna, Budapest inaugurate green hydrogen plants

Within just a few days, two green hydrogen plants were inaugurated in Central and Eastern Europe – in Austria and Hungary. The facility in Vienna has a capacity of 3 MW. The one in a Budapest suburb has 10 MW and, according to it operator MOL, it is the largest in the region.

The first green hydrogen plant was put into operation in the Austrian capital. The facility in Vienna’s Simmering district is on the Wiener Netze campus. The EUR 110 million investment is operated by the city’s power and heating company Wien Energie and gas and electricity distributor Wiener Netze.

Both firms are part of Wiener Stadtwerke, the largest state-owned utility company.

It is a pioneer in the use of hydrogen. With Wien Energie, Wiener Netze and Wiener Linien, another subsidiary, Wiener Stadtwerke produces, distributes, stores and consumes hydrogen, CEO Peter Weinelt said.

Daily production sufficient for 60 buses or trucks

The facility could produce up to 1,300 kilograms of green hydrogen per day, which can be used to fill up to 60 buses or trucks. Next to the facility, the firms have installed another H2 filling station for buses and trucks. Transport and logistics companies can use it, as they are doing so at the station in Vienna-Leopoldau.

Wiener Linien has been testing hydrogen-powered buses since 2021, and the plan is to introduce one line with only H2 fueled buses from next year. Ten buses of the Portuguese company CaetanoBus will transport passengers on line 39A.

Industry could also purchase hydrogen at the location, the firms said.

Wien Energie started to test blending hydrogen with natural gas in July for using it in its Donaustadt heating and thermal power plant.

The energy for obtaining hydrogen comes from wind farms, solar power and hydropower plants, the firm said.

MOL installs electrolyzer in refinery

MOL Group said it has handed over a 10 MW green hydrogen plant, the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, in Százhalombatta.

The EUR 22 million investment will make fuel production more sustainable, reducing the Danube Refinery’s carbon dioxide emissions by 25,000 tonnes per year, the announcement adds.

MOL said it will be able to produce 1,600 tonnes of clean, carbon-neutral green hydrogen per year and added that it is in line with its Shape Tomorrow corporate strategy.

The facility will launch operations in the second half of 2024, and the plan is to gradually replace the natural gas-based production process, which currently accounts for one-sixth of the group’s total CO2 emissions, the oil and gas producer said.

H2 will primarily be used in fuel production, MOL revealed.

“After Száhalombatta, we will take the technology to the other two fuel production units of the group to make the fuel production process more sustainable at each of MOL Group’s refineries”, CEO József Molnár said.