Coregas has purchased a refueling station and dispenser from Haskel Hydrogen Systems Group for Australia’s first commercial, hydrogen-powered heavy vehicle refueling station at Coregas’s hydrogen production facility at Port Kembla, New South Wales.

The hydrogen refueling station, to be installed on the Bluescope Port Kembla site, will come online in 2022 and will be used to fill hydrogen fuel-cell powered vehicles, including Coregas’s own Hyzon Hymax-450 prime movers.

Hydrogen fuel cell-powered heavy vehicles deliver an immediate 50% carbon emission reduction compared to the diesel trucks currently in use, and future use of biomethane or other source of renewable hydrogen further reduces these emissions to zero. Hydrogen powered vehicles emit only water vapor from the exhaust which also eliminates other harmful emissions from diesel vehicles including nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and fine particles.

"Coregas is actively supporting the development of Australia’s hydrogen economy and using hydrogen in the decarbonization of the transport sector is a key priority for us," Coregas Executive General Manager Alan Watkins said. "We believe the shorter refueling times, longer range, and higher payloads of hydrogen-powered heavy vehicles compared to equivalent battery electric vehicles means they will have a crucial role to play in making Australia’s transport sector sustainable."

Access to hydrogen fuel and refueling infrastructure are key enablers of the adoption of hydrogen as a zero-emission vehicle fuel alternative in the sector. Coregas’s hydrogen refueling station at Port Kembla, supported by the New South Wales Government and part of the Port Kembla Hydrogen Hub, will initiate a transformation of the region’s transport environmental footprint by enabling the deployment of a fleet of hydrogen-powered prime mover vehicles in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven region, which is primed to be an epicenter of the emerging hydrogen sector.

Haskel Hydrogen Systems Group will provide the hydrogen refueling system to be used at the Port Kembla facility. The system will take hydrogen from the Coregas plant, compress it to 350 bar, and deliver it to a dispenser at the vehicle fueling station 50 meters away.