Orfeón, which already has a warehouse in Cantanhede, recently closed a deal for the purchase of two lots in the industrial area of ​​Tocha, district of Coimbra, with a total area of ​​220,000 square metres.

“Cantanhede, for me, is a strategic place, because it is in a place that is neither in Lisbon nor in Porto. A logistics platform, a fuel station, a hydrogen filling station and a container park will be built on that site,” the company’s director, Rafael Ribes, told Lusa.

The group currently has four hydrogen projects in operation in Spain and the objective is to create strategic points in the Iberian Peninsula so that trucks can refuel. “The idea is to do the same in Portugal as in Spain”, stressed Rafael Ribes.

Orfeón will build the logistics center in Torcha, to then create hydrogen supply support points. “In Portugal we will have four hydrogen points, one north of Porto, another in Cantanhede, one north of Lisbon and another south of Lisbon”, he said.

The Orfeón group wants, in this way, to become more competitive, since, with a good network of green hydrogen trucks, from renewable energy, it will allow for a competitive price in the market.

Rafael Ribes noted that the problem with hydrogen trucks lies in the fact that they are “not designed for long distances, and can only travel 400 kilometers”. Therefore, the objective is to create “20 hydrogen points between Spain [16 stations] and Portugal [four stations] in three years to ensure its supply”.

The logistics base at Torcha will be operational in 2023, while the hydrogen project from renewable energy will take about two or three years. The company expects to employ a total of around 350 workers in the next two years.