On 17 October the Austrian oil and gas group OMV opened the first public hydrogen filling station in Austria, in the capital Vienna, in the presence of Reinhold Mitterlehner, Federal Minister for Economy and Energy; Harry Kopietz, President of the Vienna state parliament; Herbert Kohler, director of group research at Daimler and environmental officer; and Georg Denoke, Member of the Executive Board at Linde AG.
The showcase filling station, located on Shuttleworthstraße, has been provided with an integrated cooling, air conditioning and heating system incorporating energy recovery technology enabling the station to be operated without relying on any traditional heating energy supply. Most of its lighting is LED-based, the car wash has been equipped with solar heating panels that provide hot water and heat the car wash, and blinds help reduce the amount of energy used for air conditioning. Through the use of these technologies, the filling station is expected to achieve a reduction in CO2 emissions by at least 30 tons a year, or incur around half the energy costs of conventional filling stations.
OMV Chief Executive Officer Gerhard Roiss said at the opening: “For over 50 years we have been filling our cars with litres. In the future, we will fill them with kilos. With only four kilos of hydrogen a car can drive for around 400 kilometres. The hydrogen era begins today. Thanks to OMV, this emission-free fuel of the future is available in Austria now, and is building a bridge to Europe’s climate targets.”
“We have already worked successfully with OMV in the past,” said Linde’s Georg Denoke. “As a pioneer in the field of hydrogen technology, we are particularly pleased that we were able to continue this long standing partnership for the development of the first hydrogen filling station in Austria. This is a further important step towards creating an extensive hydrogen infrastructure in Europe.”
