As the Green Energy Center Europe approaches its 10-year anniversary, a symbolic “Farewell Tour” has drawn attention to a major shift in the hydrogen mobility landscape. Four hydrogen refueling stations in Germany and Austria have closed permanently, underscoring the need for a renewed strategy as Europe moves toward a climate-neutral and energy-autonomous future.
A Decade of Energy System Reconstruction
Since its founding, the Green Energy Center Europe and its Codex Partnership have been working to replace the fossil fuels oil, coal, and gas with renewable energy sources based on sun, wind and water. These efforts align with the “Tirol 2050 energy autonomous” strategy, which positions electricity as the central for the reconstruction of the energy system.
Unlike fossil energy, which stores power chemically, renewable electricity must be produced and consumed in real time. This reconstruction based on the “Power on Demand” process changes the energy market, and leads to a continuous loss of large-scale energy storage capacity that has traditionally ensured system resilience.
Hydrogen: The Second Pillar
Hydrogen is the second key Pillar of the future energy system. Produced through electrolysis in the “Power to Hydrogen” process, it not only serves as a storable energy carrier but also forms the basis for synthetic hydrocarbons such as plastics or eFuels such as methanol, ammonia etc (third pillar).
While widespread hydrogen deployment is a necessity within the next 10 to 15 years, green hydrogen is currently not needed. Nevertheless, technological groundwork needs to be done now. The Green Energy Center Europe is actively working on this.
Marking a Milestone: The Farewell Tour
On June 30, the team from Green Energy Center Europe set off from Innsbruck to Linz via Germany, visiting four hydrogen refueling stations on their final day of operation. The tour first visited Irschenberg, near Munich – once a vital link on the TEN-T Green Corridor across the Brenner Pass.
Commissioned in February 2021, the Irschenberg station enabled both passenger vehicles and heavy-duty transport to refuel with hydrogen. It was instrumental in various Green Energy Center initiatives, including the 2022 event “Austria, Too, Must Transition to Green Hydrogen Mobility” and testing of the Hyundai Elec City FCE bus within “HyBus meets WIVA P&G HyWest”.
A Shrinking Network and a Growing Gap
Following stops at Munich-Kreillerstraße and Passau, the tour concluded in Linz and returned to Innsbruck, covering nearly 800 km. The West-East hydrogen corridor, once a beacon of H2 mobility, has effectively been discontinued.
Further closures are imminent. By the end of August, OMV’s hydrogen stations in Graz and Wiener Neudorf will shut down, with Innsbruck to follow in September. Yet, under the EU’s AFIR regulation, Austria must submit a national plan by the end of 2025 to ensure hydrogen refueling infrastructure is in place by 2030 – every 200 km along TEN-T routes and at major urban nodes.
Building What Comes Next
In response, the Green Energy Center Europe is collaborating closely with Codex partners including Hyundai Austria, MPREIS, JuVe AutoMotion GmbH, EDC-Anlagentechnik GmbH and friends from Standortagentur Tirol and WIVA P&G to implement a first replacement for hydrogen mobility in Tyrol. These efforts aim to carry forward the advances of the past decade and ensure that hydrogen technologies for cars, buses, trucks, and drones can be rolled out.
Looking Ahead
The transformation to a climate-neutral, electricity-based energy system – central for “Tirol 2050 energy autonomous” – remains a complex and evolving mission. But as Ernst Fleischhacker, founder of the Green Energy Center Europe puts it: “But we simply keep going.”
HRS Irschenberg
HRS Irschenberg
HRS Munich-Kreillerstraße
HRS Linz Asten
HRS Linz Asten
