SMART HY AWARE partners from Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom took part in the Interregional Site Visit-IRSV in Rotterdam organized by Province South Holland & Rebel Group on May 9-10, 2022.

The Smart Hy Aware team visited the Hydrogen Refueling Station in Heinenoord, open on March 2022 to supply a fleet of 20 fuel cell buses with green hydrogen. Everfuel coordinated a guided tour of the station and demostrated how buses are refuelled. This station can be scaled up to accommodate in the future 50+ hydrogen buses and other fuel cell vehicles such as cars or trucks.

During the plenary sessions participants learnt about best practices of the hydrogen bus journey in the dutch provinces of Noord-Brabant, Zuid-Holland and Groningen-Drenthe. These case studies were presented as an example of the different approaches set out in each region towards reaching the dutch ambition of Zero Emission public transport by 2030, sharing knowledge about how to take essential steps leading to success: key items to look at the start of the hydrogen project, policy framework, relevant legislation, subsidies, economic indicators, technical aspects, struggles with tendering, challenging the market to create competition, risk management and leassons learned.

The presentation of the best practice “18 m hydrogen buses in Pau-France”, showed the features of the implementation of their new fuel cell bus line with an innovative design, and the pros & cons of combining in the same tender the supply of energy and the hydrogen bus fleet.

A specific session was scheduled to deepen in procurement procedures in The Netherlands, in particular public tendering rules of HRS in South Holland: publication, pre-selection of parties, evaluation criteria and awarding of the contract. The prior market consultation was key to ensure a competitive dialogue with the market and actively approach to figure out expectations and needs in an evolving environment. Essential to include a clear definition on what exactly is green hydrogen.

The final panel discussion helped to exchange observations and experiences among partners.