The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of the Government of Fukushima has presented an ambitious project. An investment of several million yen is approved.
It is proposed to create the largest gaseous hydrogen production plant in the world, operational by 2020. Fukushima intends to recover in this way after the nuclear accident and the tsunami.
Toshiba, Tohoku Electric Power and Iwatani will spend a year researching the configuration and specifications.
Research focuses on studying the essential technologies for a hydrogen energy system that will play a key role in stabilizing networks by smoothing output jitter. It will have a maximum capacity of 10,000 kW.
The objective is to produce hydrogen gas by applying electrolysis to the water with the cleanest possible process. They have announced that they will publish a more detailed report in 2017.
According to the calculations the facilities will be able to produce 900 tons of hydrogen per year and supply 10,000 vehicles with hydrogen or fuel cell.
In my opinion the demand for clean energy is increasing and it is clear that the hydrogen gas will be within the “energy mix” for its unique qualities. These qualities make it very competitive compared to other, much more limited, renewable energies.
Now the question is where do we want to be in 2020? The market moves, what should the government do?
The Roadmap for Europe 2020 and Horizon 2020 is very much in the line of renewable energies and CO2 reduction.
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