The symbolic ground-breaking ceremony today marked the official start of construction of Tyczka Hydrogen's new hydrogen refuelling station in the port of Schweinfurt. The filling station is the first visible milestone in a comprehensive hydrogen hub, which will also include a production facility with a truck filling centre for green hydrogen next year. Planning and preparations for this electrolysis plant with a capacity of 5 MW are already in full swing.
During the ceremony, Tyczka Hydrogen welcomed guests from politics, business and society. Among the guests of honour were Tobias Gotthardt, Member of the State Parliament and State Secretary in the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, Sebastian Remelé, Mayor of the City of Schweinfurt, and Florian Töpper, Lord Mayor of the Schweinfurt district. The event was also attended by representatives of partner companies such as the strongly supporting by the local utility company Stadtwerke Schweinfurt, the adjacent waste incineration plant Gemeinschaftskraftwerk Schweinfurt (GKS), local politicians, potential users, vehicle manufacturers, project partners and employees of the Tyczka Group.
The new filling station will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology and can refuel up to 1,000 kg of green hydrogen per day to vehicles with 350 or 700 bar in 24/7 operation. This makes it suitable for all hydrogen-powered road vehicles. The focus is on commercial vehicles such as lorries, buses and refuse collection vehicles. The Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy is funding the project with 2 million euros as part of the Bavarian H2T filling station funding programme. Tyczka Hydrogen will invest more than 20 million euros in the Schweinfurt site as part of the overall refuelling station project, the planned production facility and the associated hydrogen trailer fleet.
The location in the industrial environment of the port of Schweinfurt, the good transport links to national highways and various expansion options make the site an ideal building block in a growing refuelling station network for heavy goods vehicles. This is already the third hydrogen filling station for Tyczka Hydrogen, in addition to another own filling station in the Augsburg freight transport centre and a participation via Hy2B Wasserstoff GmbH in a filling station in Hofolding, south of Munich.
State Secretary Tobias Gotthardt emphasises: "The H2 hub is at the heart of a regional, sustainable value chain! The construction of the hydrogen refuelling station, including a renewable production plant, is exactly in line with the objectives of the Bavarian hydrogen strategy. It is precisely these kinds of model projects that we need for the ramp-up of hydrogen mobility in Bavaria. We are therefore very happy to support Tyczka Hydrogen with a total of seven million euros in state funding from our two successful funding programmes for the development of a hydrogen filling station and electrolyser infrastructure."
This construction project is also of particular importance to the city of Schweinfurt. Lord Mayor Sebastian Remelé emphasised in his speech: "The hydrogen filling station in Schweinfurt is an essential prerequisite for companies to make investment decisions for their vehicle fleets: The necessary infrastructure for the use of hydrogen-powered vehicles will soon be available. This will be an important locational advantage not only for the city of Schweinfurt, whose large industrial companies are dependent on logistics, but also for the entire region."
Dr Frank Götzelmann, CEO of the Tyczka Group, explains: "Today's ground-breaking ceremony marks the start of a forward-looking infrastructure project. Our hydrogen refuelling station at this central location will be an important building block for hydrogen mobility in Germany. In addition, our team is also working flat out on the construction of a production plant from which we will supply the region with green hydrogen. My special thanks go to the Free State of Bavaria, which is providing financial support for the realisation of this project.
The sustainable hydrogen for the filling station will initially be delivered by trailer and will in future be supplied by an electrolysis plant being built at the same site, which is being funded with 5 million euros by the Bavarian State Ministry of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy as part of the BayFELI programme. In addition to the refuelling station, this modern production plant will also supply the region with green hydrogen. Engineering and approval planning are currently underway; commissioning is scheduled to start at the end of 2026.
The close integration of production and distribution at a single location will make Schweinfurt an important hydrogen hub in the centre of Germany and create ideal conditions for the development of a regional hydrogen economy.
Caption: from left to right: Stefan Weiß (Tyczka Hydrogen), Florian Töpper (District Administrator), Caroline Trips (President IHK WÜ-Schweinfurt), Dr Frank Götzelmann (CEO Tyczka Group), Sebastian Remelé (Lord Mayor Schweinfurt), Tobias Gotthardt State Secretary, Thomas Zorn (Managing Director Tyczka Hydrogen), Dr Christoph Stiller (Tyczka Hydrogen), Jürgen Schmidt (Tyczka Hydrogen)