The Station Layout¶
Upcoming
The station layout and the layout editor are not yet available in the production portal. This page describes an upcoming release, and details can still change until it ships. Operators who want to register their stations early can contact h2-stations@clean-hydrogen.europa.eu.
The station layout is the platform's registered model of a station's physical refuelling hardware: the dispensers, the nozzles on each dispenser, the storage units feeding them, and the hydrogen products the station sells. It replaces the aggregate dispenser counts in the station record with a structured description of the actual equipment.
This page explains the motivation for the change and the structure of the layout. Operators registering a layout should read Registering Your Station Layout. Signal integrators should read Sending Signals (API v2).
The count-based model¶
The platform has so far described a station's hardware as a set of counts, listed in the Station Data Reference: the number of dispensers per fuel category (700 bar cars, 350 bar cars, 350 bar trucks). Real-time availability is reported and published per fuel category, one status per category for the whole station, as described in How Availability Status Is Computed.
Limitations of counts¶
A per-category status cannot localise a fault. At a station with two 700 bar dispensers of which one is out of order, a single per-category status must collapse the situation into one value. A layout-based signal states which dispenser is affected, and the published data can carry that distinction.
The new signal types require physical anchors. The platform extends real-time data from availability alone to four signal types:
- Usage reports whether a specific nozzle is free, in use, or reserved. This requires nozzles as addressable entities.
- Hydrogen storage reports the inventory of a specific storage unit, in kilograms or as a low-inventory flag.
- Pricing attaches a price to a product, defined by pressure stage and green-hydrogen share, not to a piece of hardware.
None of these can be expressed against a count.
AFIR requires per-refuelling-point data. Regulation (EU) 2023/1804 requires operators of publicly accessible hydrogen refuelling stations to make real-time availability and price data accessible per refuelling point. A registered layout is the precondition for representing individual refuelling points in the published data.
Station configurations are diversifying. Newer stations combine several dispensers per fuel category, nozzles reachable from different vehicle sides, mixed connector types, and heavy-duty hardware alongside passenger-car hardware. Counts carry none of this structure.
Structure¶
The layout consists of four record types:
| Entity | Definition | Attributes |
|---|---|---|
| Dispenser | A physical dispensing unit | Identifier, EN 17127 certification |
| Nozzle | A nozzle mounted on a dispenser, the connection point for the vehicle | Identifier, connector type, vehicle side, fuel categories served |
| Storage | An on-site hydrogen storage unit | Identifier, nominal capacity in kg, dispensers it feeds |
| Product | A hydrogen product the station sells, the entity a price refers to | Identifier, pressure stage (350 or 700 bar), green-hydrogen share, nozzles that dispense it |
Two properties apply to all record types:
Identifiers are stable and station-scoped. Every record carries an identifier that is unique within the station and does not change. Signals reference these identifiers, so operator and signal originator must use the same values. In practice they mirror the operator's or the telemetry system's internal naming.
Records require explicit confirmation. A layout record becomes usable for signals only after a user at the operator has reviewed and confirmed it in the portal. Signals referencing unconfirmed records are rejected. This anchors the published data to hardware an accountable person has verified.
What a registered layout enables¶
- Signal originators can send v2 signals for the station: per-nozzle availability and usage, storage inventory, and product prices. The Migration Guide describes the transition for existing integrations.
- The Map can show per-dispenser detail instead of one status per fuel category, plus prices and low-inventory information as those signals arrive.
- Data users receive the layout and the per-type live status through Export API v2.
- The station's published data can represent individual refuelling points as required by AFIR.
Compatibility¶
Registering a layout does not change existing behaviour:
- Existing station records and their published data continue to work unchanged. The per-fuel-category status on the map and in the v1 export APIs is computed as before.
- Existing v1 and v1.1 signal integrations continue to work unchanged. The platform derives the published per-fuel-category status from nozzle-level v2 signals and the layout, so both generations coexist.
- The platform pre-fills the layout registration from the station's existing records where possible.