Panasonic Unveils Pure Hydrogen Fuel Cell Generator
Panasonic Corporation has developed a pure hydrogen fuel cell generator, which generates power through a chemical reaction with high-purity hydrogen and oxygen in the air.
The generator got launched on October 1, 2021, for commercial use in Japan.
In recent years, with the acceleration of initiatives to realize a decarbonized society, several countries and regions around the world have declared their intention to reduce their overall emissions of greenhouse gases to zero by 2050, in other words, achieving carbon neutrality.
Accordingly, hydrogen is attracting interest as a next-generation energy source. Hydrogen is the most abundant substance not only on earth but also in the universe and can be used as thermal energy and electric power through combustion and chemical reaction without emitting CO2 in the process.
In 2009, Panasonic launched the world’s first household fuel cell cogeneration system, ENE-FARM, which uses hydrogen extracted from natural gas to generate power.
With more than 10 years, the company has evolved ENE-FARM by improving its electrical efficiency and operating time, as well as making it more compact.
At the same time, in anticipation of the arrival of the hydrogen society, Panasonic has also been doing in parallel the research and development of pure hydrogen fuel cell generators, to which hydrogen is directly supplied from the outside as fuel to generate power.
The company has conducted field tests with such generators at various places in Japan, starting in 2012 at Yume Solar Kan Yamanashi, a facility promoting renewable energy in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan.
Panasonic will dub its pure hydrogen fuel cell generators “H2 KIBOU” in the future, with the company’s KIBOU, which means “hope” in Japanese, to realize a hydrogen society.
Panasonic will contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society by proposing new options for expanding the introduction of renewable energy that fully utilizes hydrogen.
