The grant will ensure the construction of a hydrogen filling station in Visby on Gotland with a capacity of 1500kg of hydrogen per day, enough to fill 30 to 40 heavy-duty trucks.

The support the company has received comes from Regional Electrification Pilots and through the program the Swedish Energy Agency, which has provided support for 13 new hydrogen fuelling stations.

The grant is intended to cover all of the cost of construction of the Visby fuelling station.

However, Per Øyvind Voie, Managing Director for refuelling at Norwegian Hydrogen, warned, “We see that the prices of equipment have increased significantly lately, and the grant will therefore not cover the entire investment.”

Norwegian Hydrogen is in the process of building a network of hydrogen fuelling station aimed at heavy transport throughout the entire Nordic region.

The company recently purchased Finnish-based hydrogen refuelling company HydRe Oy with the aim of making HydRe the leading hydrogen refueller for heavy duty vehicles in the Nordics.

Read more: Norwegian Hydrogen buys Finnish hydrogen refuelling company HydRe Oy

Voie said, “We are actively working to find relevant locations, develop them, get in touch with potential customers, and trigger public support in order to expand the network as quickly as possible.

“Our goal is for trucks and other heavy vehicles to be able to drive emission-free. Then the infrastructure must be in place – and we will take a lead in this process.”

In Norway, the maximum support rate for filling stations is 40%, but first an end customer must have invested in heavy trucks.

Voie added, “I would encourage Norwegian politicians to learn from Sweden. The infrastructure must be in place first if we are to succeed in cutting emissions from heavy transport, and then the level of support must be increased.”