In a bid to fundamentally transform the growth prospects of the ever-evolving hydrogen generation technology, Toyota, the Japanese automotive and transportation industry giant has recently unveiled its plan to build the world’s first megawatt-scale hydrogen fuel and renewable generation facility.
As per sources, the plant, christened as the Tri-Gen facility, would start producing around one tonne of hydrogen and close to 2.35 megawatts of electricity each day by 2020, which is estimated to be sufficient to power approximately 2300 homes and run 1500 hydrogen-based cars.
Reports claim that the Toyota North America would be building the plant to strengthen its existing setup at the Port of Long Beach, U.S. which currently generates hydrogen, electricity, and water utilizing agricultural waste.
Toyota’s North American group VP for strategic planning, Doug Murtha has been quoted stating that the latest facility marks a crucial step in realizing the aim of net zero CO2 emissions from the company’s entire operations spectrum by 2050 and move ahead to achieve sustainable mobility.
Meanwhile, the Hydrogen Council, an association consisting of about 30 automotive, energy and industrial firms, had recently developed an industrial roadmap which had noted that around 10 million to 15 million cars across the globe would be hydrogen-powered by 2030. Interestingly, Toyota is one of the principal supporters of Hydrogen Council, with the company’s Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada serving as the Council’s current Co-Head.
Speaking on the development, the chief research scientist of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Michael Dolan was quoted stating that the Toyota’s facility is a new benchmark for the hydrogen generation industry. For the record, the CSIRO is a federal agency for scientific research in Australia, which had recently announced its objective to make the nation a world leader in hydrogen fuel market by investing millions of dollars in research activities pertaining to enhancing the renewable energy sources.
