The first hydrogen station in a logistics warehouse in Spain is inaugurated

Logistics operator FM Logistic has inaugurated the first hydrogen station in the logistics sector in Spain. Located at its logistics centre in Illescas, Toledo, this facility will be able to dispense up to 45kg/week of green hydrogen.

Initially, it will dispense green hydrogen to a van for urban logistics and to the forklifts in this warehouse. These are the first forklifts for goods movement that have been converted to be fuelled with hydrogen.

FM Logistic has thus become the first logistics company in Spain to use green hydrogen in an integrated project because in addition to having a hydrogen station to supply its internal vehicles, it obtains the energy necessary to carry out the electrolysis through photovoltaic energy from the solar panels on the roofs of its Illescas warehouse. In this way, only oxygen is released into the environment.

FM Logistic will supply its hydrogen station with the same mains water that supplies its warehouse. The quantities of water used are not significant and part of it is reused for irrigation. Moreover, the rest is returned to the atmosphere in the form of steam, so the water cycle is not altered at all.

The inauguration ceremony of the hydrogen plant was attended by: Patricia Franco, Minister of Economy, Business and Employment of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Jose Manuel Tofiño, Mayor of Illescas; Manuel Guirao, Director General of Energy Transition of the Government of Castilla La Mancha; Javier de la Villa, Head of the Mining Service of the Government of Castilla La Mancha; Paloma Calzas and Santiago Marcos, Energy, Manufacturing and Transport Technologies of the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) and Pablo Gómez, Managing Director of FM Logistic Ibérica.

There, they were able to attend an on-site refuelling of a forklift truck and were able to see the FM Logistic van for urban logistics that is being converted to hydrogen and a Toyota Mirai hydrogen vehicle, on loan from the Toyota group, a “neighbouring” company and supplier of FM Logistic in Illescas.

The hydrogen plant compresses the hydrogen at 500 bar and dispenses it at 350 bar. The nominal production of the hydrogen station (i.e. production at 100% operation all year round) is 2,430 kg of H2, 99.999% pure.

This production capacity is equivalent to the consumption of 18 pallet trucks or similar, operating 12 hours a day; or 130,000 km/year of travel by 3.5 tonne MMA vans; or a combination of the above.

The hydrogen station has three hydrogen storage tanks. Each tank stores up to 11 kg of hydrogen at a nominal pressure of 500 bar. As the Illescas hydrogen station has 3 equal tanks, its capacity is 33 kg at 500 bar.

H2Login, the name of the overall project, has received financial support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), through the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI).