Toshiba Promotes Move to Hydrogen Economy

By Dipo Olowookere

Toshiba Corporation last week broke ground on a new Hydrogen Application Centre at its Fuchu Complex in western Tokyo.

Scheduled to start operation in April 2017, the centre will be built around a newly designed H2One™ hydrogen power system that will use renewable energy to produce hydrogen and supply it to fuel-cell powered forklifts operating in Fuchu Complex.

Fuel cells can be quickly refuelled and are available 24 hours a day, a clear advantage over batteries.

Mr Hiroyuki Ota, Project Manager of Toshiba’s Energy Systems and Solutions Company noted: “The Hydrogen Application Centre is a stepping stone to building a new business. We will utilize experience and know-how gained from the Hydrogen Application Centre to develop and deliver a H2One™ for use in factories, warehouses, logistics facilities and airports. We want to make Fuchu Complex an environmental model factory for the realization of a carbon-free society where hydrogen energy is widely used.”

The system is controlled by Toshiba’s groundbreaking hydrogen energy management system, H2EMS™, which includes a new hydrogen demand prediction function that forecasts supply requirements for fuel cell vehicles, allowing space saving optimization of the area devoted to hydrogen storage.

Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Company continues to contribute to the global expansion of hydrogen energy solutions, and the transition to a low-carbon hydrogen economy.