With Tesla battery packs and largest hydrogen tank in Japan, Panasonic tests a factory of the future

As slug trains whiz by astatine 285 kilometers per hour, Panasonic's Norihiko Kawamura looks implicit Japan's tallest hydrogen retention tank. The 14-meter operation looms implicit the Tokaido Shinkansen Line tracks extracurricular the past superior of Kyoto, arsenic good arsenic a ample array of star panels, hydrogen substance cells and Tesla Megapack retention batteries. The powerfulness sources tin make capable foodstuff to tally portion of the manufacturing tract utilizing renewable vigor only.

"This whitethorn beryllium the biggest hydrogen depletion tract successful Japan," says Kawamura, a manager astatine the appliance maker's Smart Energy System Business Division. "We estimation utilizing 120 tons of hydrogen a year. As Japan produces and imports much and much hydrogen successful the future, this volition beryllium a precise suitable benignant of plant."

Sandwiched betwixt a high-speed railway and highway, Panasonic's mill successful Kusastsu, Shiga Prefecture, is simply a sprawling 52 hectare site. It was primitively built successful 1969 to manufacture goods including refrigerators, 1 of the "three treasures" of household appliances, on with TVs and washing machines, that Japanese coveted arsenic the state rebuilt aft the devastation of World War II.

Today, 1 country of the works is the H2 Kibou Field, a objection sustainable powerfulness installation that started operations successful April. It consists of a 78,000-liter hydrogen substance tank, a 495 kilowatt hydrogen substance compartment array made up of 99 5kW substance cells, 570kW from 1,820 photovoltaic star panels arranged successful an inverted "V" signifier to drawback the astir sunlight, and 1.1 megawatts of lithium-ion artillery storage.

On 1 broadside of the H2 Kibou Field, a ample show indicates the magnitude of powerfulness being produced successful existent clip from substance cells and star panels: 259kW. About 80% of the powerfulness generated comes from substance cells, with star accounting for the rest. Panasonic says the installation produces capable powerfulness to conscionable the needs of the site's substance compartment mill — it has highest powerfulness of astir 680kW and yearly usage of immoderate 2.7 gigawatts. Panasonic thinks it tin beryllium a template for the adjacent procreation of new, sustainable manufacturing. 

"This is the archetypal manufacturing tract of its benignant utilizing 100% renewable energy," says Hiroshi Kinoshita of Panasonic's Smart Energy System Business Division. "We privation to grow this solution towards the instauration of a decarbonized society."

An artificial intelligence-equipped Energy Management System (EMS) automatically controls on-site powerfulness generation, switching betwixt star and hydrogen, to minimize the magnitude of energy purchased from the section grid operator. For example, if it's a sunny summertime time and the substance compartment mill needs 600kW, the EMS mightiness prioritize the star panels, deciding connected a substance of 300kW solar, 200 kW hydrogen substance cells, and 100kW retention batteries. On a cloudy day, however, it mightiness minimize the star component, and boost the hydrogen and retention batteries, which are recharged astatine nighttime by the substance cells.

"The astir important happening to marque manufacturing greener is an integrated vigor strategy including renewable vigor specified arsenic star and wind, hydrogen, batteries and truthful on," says Takamichi Ochi, a elder manager for clime alteration and vigor astatine Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting. "To bash that, the Panasonic illustration is adjacent to an perfect vigor system."

With grey hydrogen, not wholly greenish yet

The H2 Kibou Field is not wholly green. It depends connected alleged grey hydrogen, which is generated from earthy state successful a process that tin merchandise a batch of c dioxide. Tankers haul 20,000 liters of hydrogen, chilled successful liquid signifier to minus 250 Celsius, from Osaka to Kusatsu, a region of immoderate 80 km, astir erstwhile a week. Japan has relied connected countries similar Australia, which has greater supplies of renewable energy, for hydrogen production. But section supplier Iwatani Corporation, which partnered with Chevron earlier this twelvemonth to physique 30 hydrogen fueling sites successful California by 2026, has opened a exertion halfway adjacent Osaka that is focused connected producing greenish hydrogen, which is created without the usage of fossil fuels.

Another contented that is slowing adoption is cost. Even though energy is comparatively costly successful Japan, it presently costs overmuch much to powerfulness a works with hydrogen than utilizing powerfulness from the grid, but the institution expects Japanese authorities and manufacture efforts to amended proviso and organisation volition marque the constituent importantly cheaper.

"Our anticipation is that hydrogen outgo volition spell down, truthful we tin execute thing similar 20 yen per cubic metre of hydrogen, and past we volition beryllium capable to execute outgo parity with the electrical grid," Kawamura said. 

Panasonic is besides anticipating that Japan's propulsion to go carbon-neutral by 2050 volition boost request for caller vigor products. Its substance compartment mill astatine Kusatsu has churned retired implicit 200,000 Ene-Farm earthy state substance compartment for location use. Commercialized successful 2009, the cells extract hydrogen from earthy gas, make powerfulness by reacting it with oxygen, vigor and store blistery water, and present up to 500 watts of exigency powerfulness for 8 days successful a disaster. Last year, it began selling a axenic hydrogen mentation targeted astatine commercialized users. It wants to merchantability the substance cells successful the U.S. and Europe due to the fact that governments determination person more assertive hydrogen cost-cutting measures than Japan. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a alleged Hydrogen Shot programme that aims to slash the outgo of cleanable hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram implicit 10 years. 

Panasonic doesn't program to summation the standard of its H2 Kibou Field for the clip being, wanting to spot different companies and factories follow akin vigor systems.

It won't needfully marque economical consciousness today, Kawamura says, "but we privation to commencement thing similar this truthful it volition beryllium acceptable erstwhile the outgo of hydrogen falls. Our connection is: if we privation to person 100% renewable vigor successful 2030, past we indispensable commencement with thing similar this now, not successful 2030."