Fuel Cell Tech Helps Toyota Stay Off Grid
FuelCell Energy, Inc. and Toyota Motor North America, Inc. have opened the first-of-its-kind “Tri-gen” system at the Port of Long Beach, California. The facility uses biogas to produce renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen, and usable water.
How this works is FuelCell Energy’s fuel cell system uses an electrochemical process to convert directed renewable biogas into electricity, hydrogen, and water with a high rate of efficiency. It’s a combustion-free process that doesn’t expel air pollutants like conventional vehicle centers that rely on the local power grid.
These resources are then used to support the vehicle processing and distribution center for Toyota Logistics Services (TLS). It’s the Japanese automaker’s largest North American vehicle processing facility, which receives 200,000 new Toyota and Lexus vehicles every year.
“The goal of our collaboration with FuelCell Energy was to find sustainable solutions for the TLS vehicle processing facility here at the Port of Long Beach as part of our goal to remove carbon dioxide emissions from our operations,” said Group Vice President of Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs at Toyota, Tom Stricker.
FuelCell Energy is a prominent player in sustainable clean energy technologies that solves problems associated with energy, safety, and global urbanization. It also holds more than 450 fuel cell technology patents in the US and around the world.
What Impact Does It Have?
Its Tri-gen platform allows Toyota’s Long Beach facility to operate on 100 percent on-site generated renewable electricity.
“Tri-gen demonstrates that hydrogen-based energy can benefit businesses, deliver zero-emission transportation for light- and heavy-duty vehicles, support improved air quality in local communities, reduce water usage, and deliver immediate and long-term benefits to the environment,” FuelCell Energy CEO and President Jason Few said.
The company also claims that Tri-gen can produce 2.3-megawatts of renewable electricity, which is used by TLS Long Beach to conduct its daily operations. The excess electricity produced is delivered to the local utility, Southern California Edison, under the California Bioenergy Market Adjustment Tariff (BioMAT) program.
Besides this, Tri-gen can also produce up to 1,200kg/day of hydrogen that can be used to fuel Toyota’s fuel cell vehicles as well as replenish the storage units of the adjacent hydrogen refueling station. It supports TLS logistics and drayage operations.
California Regulations That Spurred Tri-gen Operations
From January 1, 2024, California’s Advanced Clean Fleet Regulation will only allow new trucks that are zero-emission to be registered as drayage trucks. By 2035, all drayage trucks will be required to be zero-emission. As such, the Tri-gen facility will allow Toyota to comply with these new regulations as it migrates to using zero emission trucks.
Water As a Byproduct
At TLS, the water byproduct of hydrogen generation can produce up to 5,300 liters of usable water per day. The facility repurposes it for car wash operation for vehicles that come into port before being released for customer deliveries.
This practice helps reduce its reliance on local water supplies by about 1.89 million liters per year. But that isn’t all. Tri-gen is expected to help TLS reduce more than 9,000 tons of CO2 emission by limiting what it consumes from the power grid each year. Tri-gen will also help avoid more than six tons of grid NOx emissions to be released.
These benefits help Toyota realize its carbon reduction goals and in turn contribute to reducing its overall carbon emissions. As more corporations become increasingly aware of their carbon footprints, they are resorting to various methods to offset the impact their operations have on the environment.
Toyota’s facility is an example of a company thinking outside the box as it embraces fuel cell technology to wean itself off fossil fuel generated electricity.
