State, City and Port of Long Beach officials joined Toyota Motor North America and FuelCell Energy to celebrate the launch of the “Tri-gen” system.
The new system is designed to generate renewable hydrogen, electricity and water to support operations at Toyota’s largest port facility in North America.
The Tri-gen system uses biogas to produce renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen, and usable water and was built to support the vehicle processing and distribution centre for Toyota Logistics Services at Long Beach, Toyota’s largest North American vehicle processing facility, which receives approximately 200,000 new Toyota and Lexus vehicles annually.
FuelCell Energy’s Tri-gen system opened last fall, producing green hydrogen, renewable electricity and usable water converted from biogas at California landfills.
The system is reportedly capable of generating up to 1,200 kilogrammes per day of hydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles – the Toyota Mirai – imported to the terminal, and to supply an adjacent hydrogen refuelling station to support Toyota Logistics Services and heavy-duty drayage trucks operating in the port complex.
The water byproduct of hydrogen generation can produce up to 1,400 gallons of usable water, which is being repurposed for Toyota’s car wash operations for vehicles that come into port before customer delivery, helping to reduce the demand on local water supplies by approximately half a million gallons per year, the port reported.
The combustion-free process reportedly reduced more than 9,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and avoided 6 tonnes of nitrogen oxide emissions.
“Tri-gen demonstrates that hydrogen-based energy benefits businesses, delivers zero-emission transportation for light- and heavy-duty transportation, supports improved air quality in local communities, reduces water usage, and delivers immediate and long-term benefits to the environment,” FuelCell Energy CEO and President Jason Few said.
“As a company, we are living our purpose when we enable visionary customers like Toyota to decarbonise their operations and harness the energy solutions offered by hydrogen — all while leaving communities with cleaner air and easing the strain on power grids and water supplies.”
“The dawn of the renewable hydrogen era is upon us, thanks to our collaboration with Toyota, FuelCell Energy and their innovative Tri-gen system,” said Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero.
“The green power generated by the Tri-gen system, and similar projects, is part of our multilayered strategy to fuel our goal to become the world’s first zero-emissions port.”
Just recently, the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles received an award from the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) for the ports’ Clean Truck Fund (CTF) initiative.
