The hydrogen energy storage system, which will be fed with energy from a solar farm, will be built at the Garbce traction power substation in south-western Poland. PKP Energetyka and SBB Energy will work together to construct the hydrogen system, with SBB providing a set of components. The commissioning of this facility is scheduled for 2023.
The partnership and storage system are part of a wider research and development project by PKP to test the feasibility of using hydrogen for powering railroads in the future.
According to PKP, the purpose of the system being developed with SBB is to store all the energy produced by the solar farm and not used for current traction purposes. The hydrogen-based energy production and storage system will consist of an electrolyser that converts energy harvested from the sun into hydrogen, a hydrogen storage system, and a fuel cell that converts the hydrogen back into electricity.
According to the schedule, next year PKP Energetyka will be the first company in Poland to use this pioneering system of supplying the railroad with energy based on hydrogen from renewable energy. It will allow up to 23 kg of hydrogen to be stored at one time with the power outputs of the individual components determined at 36 kW for the electrolyser, 20 kW for the fuel cell capacity, and about 150 kWp for the solar farm.
The produced element will be used in the development and research phase for PKP Energetyka’s own purposes, i.e., to supply the traction substation, but the solution implemented in the future will also have the possibility of powering the traction system. The technical design of the system also allows for disconnecting the filled hydrogen cylinders, so it can be used, for example, to power railroad vehicles of PKP Energetyka.
“At PKP Energetyka, we consistently put into practice our mission of “We Energize Polish Rail”. Our industry is currently undergoing an energy transition that we are pursuing primarily through the Green Rail program. Its goal is to switch 85% of the railroad’s power supply to renewable energy by 2030. Ultimately, we want the remaining 15% to be “green” as well, which is why we are successively investing in modern research and development solutions that bring us closer to this goal,” said Piotr Obrycki, director of the R&D office, PKP Energetyka.