This demonstration project was proposed to and adopted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) as one of the projects for the 'development of technologies for realising a hydrogen society/development of technologies for regional hydrogen utilisation.'
This demonstration project will be conducted in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, using by-product hydrogen produced by Tokuyama's salt water electrolysis business to supply electricity to a distributed data center operated by MC from a stationary fuel cell power station that Honda will develop based on the assumption of reusing fuel cells from FCEVs.
The project members will explore the potential of reusing automotive FC systems in a stationary application. The objective of the project is to reduce the economic burden on customers installing and operating stationary FC systems, which will contribute to the decarbonisation of the electric power.
A further increase in power demand for data centres is expected in the long run due to the advancement of technologies that require large-volume data processing, such as generative AI and automated driving. In the face of this market environment, by utilising by-product hydrogen and FCs to power distributed data centres, the project members aim to facilitate the decarbonisation of data centres and the digital transformation of municipalities and local businesses.
Based on the knowledge gained from this demonstration project, the project members will look into the feasibility of the installation and expansion of data centres using clean power in the region, as well as explore further business opportunities both inside and outside Japan.