Vilnius accelerates green hydrogen bus project amid funding discrepancies and schedule tweaks

Vilnius is progressing with a municipal green hydrogen project intended to decarbonise the capital’s bus network, with city officials saying production will begin this year and the first hydrogen buses will carry passengers in the autumn.

The plant, being delivered on the site of the city’s second combined heat and power plant by municipal heat supplier Miesto Gijos with MT Group as contractor, is financed largely with European Union structural funds. According to Mayor Valdas Benkunskas, about €5.64 million , roughly 70% of the investment , comes from the EU; other reports of the project’s total value vary, citing figures of €8 million and €10 million. Benkunskas said at a ceremonial capsule burial that, “Vilnius will soon start producing green hydrogen and use it in the public transport system,” and framed the initiative as a major step towards cutting transport emissions.

Project participants describe a 3-megawatt electrolyser at the core of the facility that will use renewable electricity and water to produce hydrogen, with excess thermal output recovered into the city’s district heating network. Miesto Gijos chief executive Gerimantas Bakanas said the scheme is on schedule and production could begin in July or August; he added, “We are talking about a circular economy.” MT Group and several industry briefings indicate the electrolyser capacity and full-site design could enable annual hydrogen volumes ranging from about 1.14 million cubic metres up to 3.45 million cubic metres, figures that reflect different reporting on technical assumptions and utilisation rates.

The hydrogen will be stored on-site in four containers and transported to the Justiniškės area, where a publicly accessible refuelling facility is planned at the Vilniaus Public Transport depot. The municipality anticipates an initial rollout of hydrogen buses this year, with the lead article noting a first tranche of 10 vehicles and a longer-term target of 16. Other project documents and industry coverage refer to a 16-bus fleet as the programme’s objective and describe procurement and leasing approaches designed to accelerate entry into service. The city has relaunched a tender for the vehicles and expects to award a contract during March.

Stakeholders and analysts point to the strategic rationale behind the investment. According to MT Group and independent reporting, the switch to fuel-cell buses could remove roughly 1,400 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually compared with diesel operation and reduce diesel imports for the municipal fleet by a similar order of magnitude. The facility’s integration with district heating is presented as a means to improve overall system efficiency by valorising waste heat from electrolysis for local consumers.

There are, however, differences among public statements that merit attention. Cost and capacity figures vary between sources: some coverage describes an €8 million programme producing about 1.14 million cubic metres of hydrogen per year, while others report a €10 million EPC contract and the higher 3.45 million cubic metres annual production estimate. Timelines also differ slightly; while Vilnius officials cited production starting in July or August with buses in service by November, industry releases have described a mid-2026 operational target or the first half of 2026 as the expected commissioning window. These discrepancies appear to stem from evolving procurement stages, rounding of technical specifications and the multiple organisations involved in project delivery.

For municipal operators and industrial decarbonisation professionals, Vilnius’s programme illustrates several practical considerations for hydrogen transit deployment: the importance of blended capital funding to bridge early-stage economics, the value of co-locating electrolysers with heat networks to recover thermal value, and the need for flexible vehicle acquisition strategies , including leasing , to manage fleet transition risk. The project also highlights how divergent public reporting on capacity, cost and schedules can complicate comparative assessments across early hydrogen hubs.

If delivered at the scales now being discussed, the Vilnius plant would position the city among a small but growing set of European municipalities deploying hydrogen for heavy-duty urban transport, while testing municipal integration of renewable electricity, electrolysis and existing heat infrastructure as a coordinated decarbonisation pathway.