A hydrogen refuelling station (HRS) has been opened at the Shell Service Station at Gatwick Airport, and the company has pledged to open three more in the next year.

Mike Copson, hydrogen business development manager at Shell, commented: “We are pleased to be expanding our network with the opening of our third Shell-branded hydrogen refuelling site, and fulfilling our initial commitments alongside our partner ITM Power.

“Likewise, we are looking forward to further expanding the hydrogen network with three new sites over the next year as part of our commitments to the Office of Low Emission Vehicles’ Hydrogen for Transport Programme initiative.”

The new Gatwick Airport HRS is ITM Power’s eighth UK public access HRS and joins Cobham on the M25, Beaconsfield on the M40, Rainham in Essex on the A13, Teddington in London, Rotherham on the M1, Kirkwall in Orkney and Swindon on the M4 corridor. The station uses electricity via a renewable energy contract and water to generate hydrogen on-site with no need for deliveries.

The new HRS is the second of two stations in the UK to be deployed as part of the pan-European H2ME2 project, which was funded by the European Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCHJU) and the Office of Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV).

Bart Biebuyck, executive director of the FCH JU said: “We are fully committed to ensure that Europe is at the forefront of fuel cells and hydrogen technologies. We have already supported over 50 hydrogen refuelling stations through our H2ME programme and, with initiatives like the European HRS Availability System, we aim to ensure that drivers soon can choose hydrogen-based, clean means of transport throughout the continent – and have reliable information to do so.”