Madrid City Hall today inaugurated the first hydrogen for buses in Europe, located in the EMT Madrid operational center in Entrevías.
The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, accompanied by the delegate for urban planning, environment and mobility, Borja Carabante, and the councilor of Puente de Vallecas, Ángel Niño, witnessed the refueling works and operation of the first ten buses powered by green hydrogen which will begin serving the municipal fleet during the month of November.
During the visit, the mayor highlighted the implementation of this “unique in Europe” project, because “there is no other European capital that has a public hydrogen refueling station», which allows these buses to be recharged in nine minutes with clean energy, making Madrid a “leading city in public transport sustainability policy”.
ERDF funds
The Town Hall thus reaffirms its commitment to positioning it as a “central element of mobility” through “sustainable, effective and investment-generating policies”. Almeida recalled that in 2030, The 2,000 buses that will circulate on the streets of Madrid will be zero emissions.
Madrid’s first hydrogen station for buses will cover the entire hydrogen cycle: production, compression, storage and distribution of green hydrogen in a Totally innovative comprehensive engineering engagementwhich has an investment of 11.3 million euros co-financed with a contribution of 2.65 million euros from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
Spanish development
At the end of the work, carried out since December 2022 on an area of 49,618 m², this hydrogen production plant It already supplies the first buses from the Portuguese manufacturer CaetanoBus.
These installations produce hydrogen from a water electrolysis process, developed entirely by Spanish companies and whose design, construction and management were carried out by EMT Madrid.
The installation has the following components manufactured at the national level: a PEM technology electrolyzer ccapable of producing approximately 18 kg of hydrogen per hourtwo compressors, three low, medium and high pressure storage tanks and two distributors for bus refueling.
THE filling pressure of green hydrogen tanks is 350 bars, or 75% more than the pressure of compressed natural gas (CNG) compressors.
Solar energy
At the same time and to be able to inject sufficient energy into the hydrogen plant located in Madrid, the project planned the installation of a total of 2,780 photovoltaic panels distributed over three breakwaters. The photovoltaic cover generates a maximum power of 1.6 MWh, or 550 kW for each panel.
This is the first time that EMT Madrid receives financial support from the ERDF to execute this project and other ongoing projects related to electrification of the municipal fleet and energy efficiency in the infrastructure of the municipal enterprise.
Tresca Engineering is the company selected for the development of the preliminary project, in addition to having carried out consultancy and management work optional. For its part, the drafting and execution of the project were entrusted to UTE ENTREVÍAS, formed by SERVEO SERVICIOS SAU and ALYON SERVICIOS SA.
Ten hydrogen buses
The hydrogen obtained is compressed and stored so that it can be refueled, initially, a total of ten buses. This hydrogen fleet was awarded to the Portuguese manufacturer CaetanoBus.
In December 2022, the municipal company made public the tender for the supply of ten buses fuel cell powered by green hydrogen to integrate them into EMT Madrid’s clean fleet.
The technical specifications of this public call for tenders mentioned these ten standard buses, 12 meters longfuel cell powered by green hydrogen, for an amount of 639,000 euros per unit.
This acquisition benefits from 39.12% financing from European funds NextGenerationEU through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan.
280 kilometers of autonomy
This bus model has five type 4 hydrogen storage bottleswith a total capacity of 1,560 liters to store 37.5 kg of hydrogen.
With this capacity, these vehicles achieve, at least, 280 kilometers of range, which is equivalent to 20 hours of road service. In addition, this vehicle is equipped with three LTO type batteries with a capacity of 43.8 kWh that can be recharged independently. The recharge time for these fuel cells is estimated at less than ten minutes.
The buses that will be incorporated this year follow the general body standard of the municipal company for maintain homogeneity with the design and appearance of the rest of the bus fleet.
Likewise, they have features similar to any other standard electric or natural gas bus in Madridin addition to being equipped with mirrors with cameras. The propulsion technology of this vehicle is from the brand Toyota.
Sustainable mobility
With the launch of this hydrogen plant in Entrevías, EMT Madrid “is making decisive progress in its innovative green hydrogen project for the city’s public transport”, bet on H2 as a fundamental energy vector for sustainable mobility”, according to the council.
This commitment was materialized by the strategic alliance signed in 2020 between the municipal enterprise and the National Center for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells (CNH2)public body, in order to cooperate closely in the scientific research and technological development necessary for the implementation of technologies applied to hydrogen.
With this agreement, the City Hall and EMT Madrid are committed to achieving the objective of decarbonize the urban public transport sector and reduce environmental and health costs related to transport activities, among other objectives.
Previous experiences
After the activation of this hydrogen plant, the town hall emphasizes that “this is not the first time that EMT Madrid has tested hydrogen as an alternative energy. Between 2002 and 2006, the municipal company participated in the European projects City Cell and HyFleet:CUTE, being the first Spanish operator “by putting hydrogen-powered fuel cell buses into circulation.”
The application of hydrogen as a fuel is currently one of the main initiatives promoted by the municipal company. Reaching the milestone of having a 100% sustainable fleet This is a crucial aspect of Madrid 360’s current strategy.
This strategy is one of the axes of the EMT Madrid Strategic Plan until 2025, setting the future course towards a green company and decarbonized with an energy sustainable model, in accordance with what is established in the Clean Vehicles Directive of the European Union.
