Town to Get One of Few Hydrogen Stations in State

Ground will be broken this spring for a hydrogen filling station at the town's Public Works Department on Shepard Avenue that will service the Greater New Haven Transit District's shuttle used to transport Hamden seniors.

The station is part of a larger project the GNHTD is undertaking to transition from fossil fuels to hydrogen to power its vehicles.

"Fossil fuels are in limited supply. As availability diminishes, costs increase and reliability as a future sources of energy decreases," it says on the GNHTD's webiste. "Fossil fuels also produce pollutants that damage air quality and endanger public health. GNHTD is committed to bringing renewable, non-polluting, green energy transit to Connecticut and to the New Haven region."

Car companies also are experiencing with hydrogen -- General Motors is already developing cars fueled by hydrogen in its Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell vehicle program.

"Many see it as the fuel of the future," said Curt Leng, chief administrative officer to Mayor Scott Jackson, "and if it takes off, Hamden will be ahead of the pack."

GNHTD obtained a $1.5 million grant to install the hydrogen station at the Hamden Public Works Department, Leng said.

"They will utilize it with the first in this area, first fully-fueled hydrogen bus that will be used in our senior transportation program," he said. 

"Hydrogen emits zero toxins and when it drives there are only drips of water," he said. "It's a wonderfully enviromentally-friendly way to fuel a vehicle."

But at this stage, it's still new technology, he said, and still very experimental. The technology is still expensive, he said, which is why town officials are happy the GNHTD was able to secure the funding for the station.

"It wouldn't be something we could even experiment with," he said. "In time when the technology becomes more consumer friendly, the cost of producing these systems and vehicles will be cheaper and become as common as the use of fossil fuels.

"If the future of fueling vehicles goes in that direction, we will be ahead of the curve with this system in place," he said.

But initially it will be only the GNHTD's Senior Transportation Program van that will be using it, he said. There will be no expense to the town, Leng said, and construction begins in the spring.

The station is designed to generate 10 kilograms of hydrogen per day and will have the capacity to store 48 kilograms of hydrogen, according to the GNHTD. 

Last July the GNHTD took over the operation of the Hamden Senior Transportation Program after Jackson and the Legislative Council decided to privatize the service to save money.