Colorado’s first hydrogen fuel station arrived at Colorado State University on September 29th, 2020. Once operational, the station will enable the deployment of Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (EV’s) by generating hydrogen on-site by splitting water molecules using renewable electricity. 

The station was previously operating in Washington DC but scheduled to be decommissioned.  NREL was in charge of that process and thanks to the efforts of Shaun Onorato at NREL, arrangements were made for the owner, Nel Hydrogen to donate the station to CSU.  A special thank you to Steve Szymanski of Nel for making this donation possible.  The station will be operated and maintained by the CSU Energy Institute at the Powerhouse Energy Campus.  

Arrival of this pilot hydrogen station is significant for three reasons:

First, this enables the deployment of Fuel Cell EV’s in Colorado by providing a source of hydrogen fuel.  We can now start promoting Fuel Cell EV’s to the public, the media, municipalities and businesses.

Second, it will give CSU and the Colorado Hydrogen Network experience in operating and maintaining hydrogen fuel stations.  This gives us experience and credibility as we engage investors and commercial users for the next stations, since we’ll have experience with the costs and operation.

And lastly, we’ll use this station to establish codes and standards with state, county and municipal organizations, so that as commercial stations are deployed, we won’t be reinventing-the-wheel every time.

The station produces 1.75 kg/hr and dispenses at both 350 and 700 bar.  The 700 bar fueling meets SAE J2601 standards.