The Slovak company behind an ambitious project to build a €5.8bn ($7bn) hydrogen truck fleet and refuelling network in central Europe hopes the scheme can qualify for European Commission funding, from its important projects of common European interest (IPCEI) scheme.

Central Europe’s Black Horse project had involved plans to develop, install and operate a hydrogen production and distribution network across the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. This quartet form the Visegrad Group, a political alliance within the EU.

“Hydrogen is so hot right now, it is not difficult to find financing or investors even in these tough times” Halasz, Bioway

Yet a muted response from decisionmakers in Hungary and Poland means Black Horse will now focus on the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the architect of the plan tells Hydrogen Economist. “We had to adjust the project and make it smaller,” says David Halasz, a project manager at Slovakia’s Bioway, a company specialising in bio-LNG.

According to Bioway, the original Black Horse plan would have involved the construction of 40 hydrogen electrolysers and liquefiers that, combined, would produce 320t/d of liquid green hydrogen. Hydrogen refuelling infrastructure would be added to 270 existing fuel stations along main highway corridors, delivering hydrogen at pressures of 350 and 700 bar.

Bioway estimated the cost of a four-country Black Horse project to be €5.80bn. This would have been divided by €3bn on hydrogen trucks, €1.08bn on hydrogen fuel stations, €375mn on electrolysers, €30.5mn on hydrogen transportation units and €1.31mn on 1,447 wind turbines or other renewable electricity sources.

In the revised plan, Bioway has cut its estimate for the number of hydrogen trucks to 3,000, with 2,000 in the Czech Republic and 1,000 in Slovakia. Nonetheless, these would still result in CO₂ emissions falling by 267,000t annually, according to Hydrogen Economist calculations based on data from Bioway. A fleet of 3,000 trucks would require around 100t/d of hydrogen, estimates Halasz, who now foresees building 60 refuelling stations, 40 in the Czech Republic and 20 in Slovakia .

Bioway, which unveiled its concept in October 2019, presented country-specific proposals to government agencies in the Czech Republic in October 2020 and Slovakia in January 2021.

Project funding

The revised plans made it through the initial phase in both countries’ vetting processes, Halasz says, so Bioway will now conduct feasibility studies before submitting funding applications to the European Commission, which will decide whether to provide financial or other assistance.

“There will be some questions from the European Commission regarding technology and the planning roadmap. Then, by the end of this year, we will know if we got approved and then we will have ten years to implement the whole project,” says Halasz.

267,000t/yr – CO2 that would be saved by 3,000 H2 trucks replacing diesel ones

The EU introduced IPCEI to help fund technologically innovative projects while not falling foul of the bloc’s state aid rules. As such, IPCEI must involve more than one member state and have a signification impact in terms of economic growth or sustainability. Beneficiaries must provide co-financing and a project must make a significant contribution to EU objectives. Black Horse seems to meet this criteria, with hydrogen central to the EU's Geen Deal.

IPCEI funding can be up to 100pc of costs, although the exact percentage Black Horse might be able to secure is uncertain, Halasz acknowledges. “It depends on how much the ministries can get and what the conditions will be,” he says. “Right now, the main thing we are focused on is to get the project approved and then we will see. Hydrogen is so hot right now, it is not difficult to find financing or investors even in these tough times.”

Bioway is in discussions with potential partners in Hungary and Poland to extend Black Horse to those countries, but Halasz declined to identify the companies in question citing confidentiality agreements.

Black Horse could start by using grey/brown hydrogen before transitioning to blue hydrogen and green hydrogen within a decade, adds Halasz.

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Author: Matt Smith