Port Authority of Valencia receives the first load of hydrogen to supply the refuelling station
The Valencian precinct has received the first load of hydrogen (H2) to supply the refuelling station located on the Xità quay, according to the Port of Valencia's release.
This milestone makes it the first port in Europe to have a hydrogen installation in real operating conditions. It is the only installation capable of supplying the needs of the terminals through the mobile hydrogen plant and the fixed tank that stores this fuel. A turning point for the port community and the European ports to start testing one of the fuels of the future.
This hydrogen supply station (HRS) includes a fixed part dedicated to the reception, storage and compression of hydrogen up to delivery pressure, on which the test was carried out today, and a mobile part which stores the compressed hydrogen and has a dispenser for refuelling the port machinery.
The first tubetrailer of green hydrogen cylinders arrived at the hydrogen plant and was loaded into the storage tank at the Port of Valencia. Different tests were carried out for about an hour to prepare the entire operation for filling the fixed tank located on the Xità quay with H2.
The test was attended by technicians from the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV), the Valenciaport Foundation, the National Hydrogen Centre – in charge of the design and construction of the station – and Carburos Metálicos – the company supplying the hydrogen. Next week, the mobile station will be loaded and will be responsible for travelling to the MSC and Grimaldi terminals to supply hydrogen to the two prototypes of port machinery, which will arrive in the near future, where this clean fuel will be tested.
Specifically, it will be tested in a ‘Reachstacker’ vehicle or container stacker and in a 4×4 tractor unit. In the coming weeks, a team of dockers and technicians from Valenciaport will travel to Holland to test the Reachstacker, which is being designed by Hyster Europe. The ro-ro tractor is being adapted by Atena Distretto. Both will run on fuel cells and electric motors, which will be powered by H2, and will be zero-emission.
It is an initiative coordinated by the Valenciaport Foundation in collaboration with the Port Authority of Valencia (PAV) and is financed by the European Union’s Clean Hydrogen JU programme. Its main objective is to test and validate hydrogen technologies on port machinery that will provide applicable and real solutions without affecting the performance and safety of port operations and producing zero local emissions. The Port of Valencia started working with hydrogen in 2019, before this project was launched.
The H2Ports project will entail a total investment of more than 4 million euros and involves, in addition to the Valenciaport Foundation and the PAV, the research centres Centro Nacional del Hidrógeno and Atena Distretto Alta Tecnologia Energia Ambiente and the private companies MSC Terminal Valencia, Grimaldi Group, Hyster-Yale, Ballard Power Systems Europe, Carburos Metálicos and Enagás.
