Environment

Opel HydroGen4 Gets First Wind-Sourced Hydrogen Fuel

Apr 30, 2012 4:00 PM ET
Campaign: GM Greener Vehicles
The CEO of TOTAL Germany, Hans-Christian Gützkow (far left), and the chairman of ENERTRAG; Werner Diwald (second from the left). show the Opel HydroGen4 that was the first vehicle in Germany to be fueled with hydrogen from wind power. From left: Hans-Christian Gützkow, CEO of TOTAL Germany Werner Diwald, Chairman of ENERTRAG; Patrick Schnell, Chairman of the Clean Energy Partnership (CEP); Dirk Inger, head of the sub-department of renewable energies at the German Federal Ministry for Transport, Construction and Urban Planning; Horst Schauerteh Head of the department of vehicle managment at the Berlin Transport Association (BVG); Berthold Goetke, head of the sub-department for renewable energies at the Germany Federal Ministry for the Environment, Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety.

(3BL Media) Berlin/Rüsselsheim - April 30, 2012 - An Opel HydroGen4 is the first fuel cell vehicle to use hydrogen sourced from wind power now that longstanding Opel partners TOTAL and ENERTRAG are supplying a Berlin gas station with the “green” hydrogen fuel. Both companies have been testing fuel cell vehicles for everyday use.

The hybrid power station run by ENERTRAG in the Berlin district of Prenzlau is now supplying wind-sourced hydrogen fuel to gas stations owned by TOTAL. Vehicles taking part in the hydrogen fuel Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) supported by the German government will now be powered by the environmentally friendly hydrogen fuel.  

The use of hydrogen in the CEP project that is produced from renewable energy sources is a milestone on the path to emissions-free mobility. Hydrogen is able to store fluctuating renewable energy sources over longer periods that can be produced immediately at wind farms. In that sense, the hydrogen neither causes harmful emissions when it is sourced, nor when it is used as a fuel. The “exhaust” vapors emitted from fuel cell vehicles are only steam from water.