Japan opens one of the world’s largest hydrogen power plants

Humanity is considered one of the main factors affecting climate change. Among others, Japan is often blamed for this. It continues to depend on coal-fired power plants that pollute the atmosphere with harmful emissions. In an effort to prove to the world community its readiness for change, the country’s government opened a new solar-powered hydrogen station near the tragically famous Fukushima power station.

The new station is located in Nami, north of the destroyed Fukushima-1 nuclear power plant. The project was supported by companies such as Toshiba, Tohoku Electric Power and Iwatani, a natural gas distributor. The plant receives hydrogen by decomposing water using electricity from solar panels. The area of ​​the latter is 180,000 km², which allows generating about 20 megawatts of electricity.

Currently, the station’s capacities are small. According to preliminary estimates, the generated energy will be enough to refuel 560 hydrogen fuel cell vehicles per day. The initiative is also associated with the upcoming Olympic Games, which creates an additional positive information background for government efforts.

In the future, Japan plans to produce hydrogen abroad, since its domestic production turned out to be too expensive. About 190 million dollars have already been allocated to create a technology suitable for generating large quantities of hydrogen. The hydrogen produced for the first time will be used during the Olympic torch relay starting on March 26, as well as in fuel cell vehicles that will transport athletes and personnel.