At the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota has announced it will build the world's first megawatt-scale carbonate fuel cell power generation plant with a hydrogen fueling station in California. This 'Tri-Gen" facility will use locally-sourced agricultural bio-waste to generate huge amounts of power, lots of hydrogen, and clean water. Yes, that probably means cow poop.

The plant is scheduled to go online in 2020 and will generate approximately 2.5 megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to the amount used by 2,350 average homes in the region. The electricity will be used to power Toyota Logistic Services' (TLS) operations at the Long Beach Port, making it the first Toyota facility in North America source all its power from renewable sources.

Additionally, the plant will and produce 1.2 tons of hydrogen every day, which is enough to power about 1,500 vehicles on an average daily drive. The hydrogen generated on-site will be used in all Toyota fuel cell vehicles at the port, from Toyota Mirai fuel cell cars being delivered through the site, to the Toyota Project Portal heavy-duty hydrogen fuel cell Class 8 truck. Currently, a large on-site hydrogen storage tank fills those needs and is refilled with hydrogen produced elsewhere and shipped in by Air Liquide.

"Tri-Gen is a major step forward for sustainable mobility and a key accomplishment of our 2050 Environmental Challenge to achieve net zero CO2 emissions from our operations," says Doug Murtha, group VP of Strategic Planning at Toyota.

The Tri-Gen facility is being treated as a proof of concept for a 100 percent renewable, localized hydrogen generation plant, running at scale. If the plant proves successful, Toyota says that it can be copied at nearly any location.

Source: Toyota