Poland’s Hydrogen Bus Fleet Grows, but Its Largest Private Energy Company Is Walking Away from Fuel Supply

Poland built public demand for hydrogen transport — then watched its largest private energy company conclude the supply side did not add up commercially.

The government’s rationale was to create an ecosystem: subsidies helping municipalities buy hydrogen buses would guarantee a stable customer base for fuel producers and refueling operators. By April 2026, Poland had registered 153 hydrogen buses, with 140 already operating on routes and a further 107 under contract, according to CleanTechnica.

Polenergia had looked well placed to anchor that supply chain. The developer brought a 5 MW renewable hydrogen plant in Nowa Sarzyna — designed to produce roughly 500 tonnes of fuel a year — all the way through a construction permit, International Finance Corporation backing, and public funding for refueling infrastructure. Equipment cleared factory testing. The company also won a 15-year tender worth around 120 million zlotys to supply fuel for 20 buses in Rzeszów.

Despite that long-term municipal contract, Polenergia cancelled the agreement in January 2025 and has since been gradually winding down its transport hydrogen activities. The reasons were layered: legal complexities and delivery-schedule risks in the tender process, compounded by more fundamental barriers — high capital risk, an immature market for green hydrogen, and very limited financing options.

The outcome spotlights a structural tension in hydrogen strategy. Poland already consumes substantial volumes of fossil hydrogen in refining and chemicals, where replacing carbon-intensive production is a concrete decarbonisation task. Transport hydrogen, by contrast, requires building demand from scratch — even as battery electric buses offer a commercially proven alternative. Municipalities that bought vehicles under subsidy schemes are now searching for other fuel suppliers, a reminder that one-off purchase support cannot guarantee a competitive, durable supply chain across the full service life of a bus fleet.

Source: CleanTechnica