A total of ten private companies including Toyota Motor Corporation, which are working on promoting hydrogen use, will be able to use hydrogen on a large scale, aiming to build a supply chain for expanding demand and stable use of hydrogen in the central region. The “Central Region Hydrogen Utilization Council” has been launched.
Ten companies participating in the meeting are Toyota, Sumitomo, Sumitomo Mitsui Bank, Idemitsu Kosan, Iwatani, JXTG Energy, Chubu Electric Power, Toho Gas, Japan Air Liquide, and Mitsubishi Chemical. Of these, Toyota Motor, Sumitomo Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Bank will be the leaders. This is the first in Japan in which companies from various industries such as oil, gas, and electric power, petrochemicals, automobiles, and finance participate, and the industry as a whole is conducting such initiative.
At present, in global environmental issues, controlling global warming by reducing CO2 emissions is an urgent issue, and it is important to promote sustainable and low-carbon energy use. The Japanese government has positioned hydrogen as one of the most important energy sources in the future, and has formulated the “Hydrogen / Fuel Cell Strategic Roadmap”. The immediate goal is to establish a large-scale hydrogen supply system that will use 300,000 tons of hydrogen per year in 2030.
Under these circumstances, on the hydrogen production and supply side, various companies are demonstrating new technologies and measures for social implementation, but on the demand side, large-scale usage and expansion of hydrogen usage are increasing. In the current situation the examination remains at the individual company level. Therefore, a cross-industry council will be set up in the Chubu area to examine concrete measures for large-scale hydrogen use, and to promote social implementation while cooperating with the supply side.
The council plans to work on social implementation starting in the mid-2020s in order to spur the goal of 300,000 tons of hydrogen annually by 2030.
