First DATS 24 filling station for green hydrogen
In the presence of many journalists, business people and politicians, Colruyt Group officially opened its first hydrogen filling station on October 8, 2018. The DATS 24 station in Halle (Dassenveld) now offers all conventional as well as alternative fuels. These alternative fuels include 100% green hydrogen that is locally produced using renewable electricity from our own wind turbines.
VIDEO: First hydrogen filling station
Hydrogen: green fuel
Hydrogen as a fuel offers many advantages. Its raw materials, namely water and electricity, are renewable. Furthermore, hydrogen fuel can be produced using renewable energy, meaning that even the process itself is completely 'green'. Hydrogen-fuelled vehicles do not emit any harmful substances, only water vapour. A car can be fully refuelled in five minutes. "However, we do not claim that there is only one possible way to sustainable mobility", emphasises CEO Jef Colruyt. "Our new hydrogen filling station is unique in Europe because it offers green hydrogen as well as all the other fuels."
I hope that our innovation projects will have an inspiring effect. For other companies and for our 4 million customers.
New milestone
Since 2004, we have already invested 6 million euros in innovative hydrogen projects. For example, we have been producing green hydrogen at the Dassenveld site for some years now. In the distribution centre, our order pickers use 75 hydrogen forklift trucks and we have 18 hydrogen cars being driven in and around the vicinity of our head office. "This first public hydrogen filling station is certainly not an isolated case", says Jef. “Over the next five years, we intend to invest an extra 35 million euros in the hydrogen economy, including four new hydrogen filling stations.”
With this initiative, we contribute to the following Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
