The opening of the service station at the Heerstraße is a new highlight of the commitment to hydrogen in Berlin made by TOTAL in 2002. With this service station we place special emphasis on the development of hydrogen-powered public transport. This service station thus plays an important role in the continued development of the CEP and opens up perspectives for further hydrogen activities in Berlin.

—Thierry Pflimlin, managing director of TOTAL Deutschland GmbH

CEP is an international association of Aral, BMW, Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM/Opel, Hydro, Linde, TOTAL and Vattenfall Europe. Its goal is to promote and to support the development of hydrogen for use in the transportation sector. The Clean Energy Partnership is initially planned to run until December 2007. It is also a component of Germany’s national sustainability strategy and will be sponsored by the German federal government.

At the opening of the Heerstraße station, German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee said that the country will invest an additional €500 million (US$609 million) over the next decade to support developing hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The Berlin hydrogen demonstration project consists of the hydrogen infrastructure, including the fueling systems; the vehicle fleet; a hydrogen information center; and a service station for hydrogen vehicles.

CEP is experimenting with a total of three different hydrogen production methods in its two stations: on-site water electrolysis; on-site steam LPG reforming; and centralized LH2 production with delivery to the station.

The first Berlin hydrogen station—an Aral station at Messedamm opened in November 2004—uses on-site electrolysis and LH2 delivery. The Aral service station at Messedamm specializes in the fueling and servicing of hydrogen-powered automobiles and has a fueling capacity of more than 100 vehicles per day.

The technology layout of the TOTAL/Heerstraße station

The TOTAL station in the Heerstraße is to focus on supporting the BVG’s hydrogen-powered buses. Initially, both gaseous and liquid hydrogen will be supplied by LH deliveries by Linde.

The station will generate gaseous hydrogen via the vaporization of liquid hydrogen up to June 2006, at which time an on-site steam reformer using LPG as a feedstock will come on-line. (Vaporization will remain a back-up method when on-site reforming begins.)

The station has a total of four dispensers: two each for liquid and gaseous hydrogen, with one of each pair being dedicated to the BVG, the other open to the public.

The on-site reformer will have a targeted output of 100 Nm³/h, and will be able to refuel 7 hydrogen buses daily. Subsequently, TOTAL will bring in a new hydrogen compressor: an ionic-compressor provides compression up to 450 bar (with the possible upgrade to 700 bar) and an output capacity of 540 Nm³/h. The original compressor delivers gas at up to 450 bar at an output rate of at 240 Nm³/h.

TOTAL is also planing to install two 5 kW fuel cells for combined heat and power for the station.

The station will serve as a testbed for other initiatives, including an investigation into carbon dioxide capture and reuse from the reformer, and the use of Bio-DME (DME generated from biomass) as a reformer feedstock. Other studies will include methods for taking advantage of hydrogen during off-times, including the use of excess hydrogen and the use of boil-off from the LH tanks.

The vehicles. BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Ford and GM/Opel are providing the 16 vehicles in the demonstration fleet:

• 10 DaimlerChrysler A-class F-Cell (fuel cell, CGH2)

• 3 Focus FCV hybrids (fuel cell, CGH2)

• 2 BMW bi-fuel 7-series (combustion engine, LH2)

• 1 GM/Opel HydroGen3 (fuel cell, LH2)

The BVG will be using 14 MAN hydrogen internal combustion engine buses (of three different generations).

Resources:

• Hydrogen Supply Infrastructure HyFleet:CUTE – Berlin