Toshiba Promotes Move To Hydrogen Economy

Toshiba Corporation recently broke ground on a new Hydrogen Application Center at its Fuchu Complex in western Tokyo.

Scheduled to start operation in April 2017, the center 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 refueled 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 Center is a stepping stone to building a new business. We will utilize experience and know-how gained from the Hydrogen Application Center 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.