Renewable hydrogen is coming to the Port of Long Beach

The Californian port recently held its official opening of the new Tri-gen system

The Port of Long Beach in California has now officially opened its Tri-gen system for renewable hydrogen, electricity, and water generation, in a ceremony attended by several officials.

The system is designed to offer clean support to the facility

The Tri-gen system is meant to support operations at Toyota’s largest North American port facility.  At the official opening, the renewable hydrogen system was described as a “first-of-its-kind”.  In attendance included State, City, and Port of Long Beach officials. 

The Tri-gen system was opened at the location by Toyota Motor North America and FuelCell Energy.

According to the Port of Long Beach, the Tri-gen system produces the clean H2, zero-emission electricity, and usable water by fueling it with biogas.  The H2, electricity and water are then used for the support of the Toyota Logistics Services vehicle processing and distribution center at Long Beach, California.

Able to produce 1,200 kilograms of renewable hydrogen per day

At the ceremony to open the facility, the port underscored that the Tri-gen system has a 1,200 kilogram per day capacity for clean H2 generation. This is produced for the purpose of fueling fuel cell electric vehicles that are imported into the terminal. 

The H2 will also be used as a fuel supply for an adjacent hydrogen refueling station that supports Toyota Logistics Services as well as the port complex’ heavy-duty drayage truck operations.

Making the clean fuel available for use

Among the top barriers to Toyota’s efforts to roll out fuel cell vehicles – and indeed that of other companies invested in H2 – is that the refueling network is sparse and broadly non-existent. This move is intended to be a step toward improving that situation.

“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.”

“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,” added Toyota Group Vice President of Sustainability and Regulatory Affairs Tom Stricker. “This groundbreaking facility shows that there are ways to reduce our emissions and burden on natural resources with scalable technology based on hydrogen.”

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