In total, 100 companies, 12 filling stations and operators and 10 to 15 vehicle manufacturers applied for the grant, which was funded through the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management (I&W).
Two consortiums linked to Fountain Fuel’s hydrogen refuelling station network received €8.2m. Both consortia include up to 30 transport logistics partners, such as Van Hooft Transport and MAN Truck & Bus.
The SWiM grant has allowed Fountain Fuel to accelerate the rollout of its hydrogen refuelling stations, including the construction of XL stations in Nijmegen and Rotterdam. Overall, they want to establish 25 stations nationwide by 2025.
In a statement released online, Fountain Fuel said, “In the first phase of making mobility more sustainable, heavy reliance was placed on battery-electric transport and e-charging.
“Grid congestion is causing delays in the rollout of the e-charge network, compromising the transition to zero-emission mobility. Hydrogen-based mobility has therefore now become an inevitable alternative.”
Stephen Bredewold, Director at Fountain Fuel, reiterated this point, adding, “Hydrogen is desperately needed to avoid burdening the electricity grid even more.
“With one hydrogen fuelling station of 350,000kg/year, about 11,760,000kWh of grid load can be avoided: that is equal to the power consumption of about 5,000 Dutch households. You can see that this is why hydrogen-based solutions are being looked at, at a rapid, accelerated pace.”
Interest in the first round of SWiM was so high that I&W will reportedly increase the total funding to €40m in the next phase of funding.
Beer Kwantes, Head of Business Development at Fountain Fuel, said, “‘Companies betting on hydrogen see it as a necessary and inevitable complement to battery-electric solutions.
“Think of heavy transport, longer distances, vans for construction companies and breakdown services and applications where constant deployment is important.
“We are pleased that the budget for 2025 has been increased. In fact, we already have a lot of applications on hold for the upcoming SWiM round,” he added.
