The station in the Wielkopolska Province has two dispensers operating at 350 and 700 bar with a daily capacity of 480kg of hydrogen, enough to fuel up to 10 buses and 30 cars.

Orlen will supply the station with around 219,000kg of hydrogen from its own existing hydrogen production capacity – primarily its unabated natural gas-based production associated with its refineries.

These volumes will be provided to Piła’s fleet of five hydrogen buses, as well as individual customers.

It adds to the state-owned oil and gas firm’s operational hydrogen refuelling infrastructure in Poznań, Katowice, Wałbrzych and Włocławek.

The next stage of the company’s strategy will look to roll out 16 new stations across an unspecified timeline as it looks to scale its own clean hydrogen production.

In 2024, it received €62m ($74m) from the EU for advancing Poland’s refuelling network.

Orlen has a planned electrolyser capacity of 1GW by 2030, which it claims could produce more than 130,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually, in combination with waste-to-hydrogen projects it has in development.

It also recently signed agreements with Finnish green hydrogen producers for future suppliers for its refining and chemicals facilities.

Jakub Lubiński, Head of the Hydrogen Technologies Office at Orlen, said the new station, combined with a second facility in Poznań – 104km away – comprises the foundations for developing low-emission transport in the region.

The new station comes amidst EU mandates for green hydrogen in the mobility sector, requiring its use for 1.2% of transport energy by 2030.

Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV) recently committed €220m ($260m) for establishing a trial network of up to 40 hydrogen refuelling stations, and MB Energy grew its refuelling station portfolio to four stations last week.