article taken from: Business Green

by James Phillips

Key players in the Japanese public and private sectors have teamed up to trial an innovative hydrogen-fuel project that aims to assess the potential for carbon neutral supply chains.

Auto giant Toyota yesterday announced it would be working with a number of organisations, including tech leader Toshiba, to deliver the four-year pilot scheme.

The trial will use renewable energy from the Yokohama City Wind Power Plant to convert water into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen is then stored and compressed, before being loaded onto a mobile fuelling station and transported to the Keihin coastal area.

The project will provide energy for use in fuel cell forklift trucks, while also studying the feasibility of a hydrogen supply chain.

Toyota said the trial would demonstrate the role of renewable energy and hydrogen fuel cell technology in a "carbon neutral" supply chain, in order to help reduce the world's greenhouse gas emissions.

The project is being developed in partnership with public sector officials from the Kanagawa Prefectural Government, Yokohama City, and Kawasaki City, as well as tech companies Toyota, Toshiba and Iwatani.

The company states that a committee, including local academics, has been formed to discuss the direction and framework of the project, with the aim of beginning the trial in April next year.

Earlier this year, Toyota announced it would be working with Nissan and Honda to fund the rollout of hydrogen charging stations across Japan. The companies pledged to provide up to Y6bn (£31m) of funds to support the government's push to encourage the adoption of the technology.