On June 23, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) summarized the “Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells” through to around 2040. What this strategy entails was looked into at a meeting called the “Council for a Strategy for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells” which had been set up by industrial, academic, and government circles in December of last year. This meeting focused on putting hydrogen energy into practical use and how this energy will be actually used.

The development of the “Strategic Roadmap for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells” was included in the “Basic Energy Plan (revised)” decided upon by the Cabinet meeting in April of this year. At the Council, regarding the drawing up of the roadmap, the significance of the spreading in use of hydrogen energy was also considered. In addition to the actual utilization of hydrogen energy, the goals which should be set for each stage of production as well as of transport and storage are included. The involvement of the academic, private, and government circles in implementation is also mentioned, with the time framework worked in．

Specific points include the realization of major energy saving by expanding the use of fuel cells for home and fuel cell vehicles (FCV) which are now partly in actual use, and the pursuit of the acquisition and expansion of a share of the sales of Japanese made products in the world market as business since Japan has the lead worldwide regarding technology for developing fuel cells, all of which should be conducted by focusing on the length of the time period required for overcoming the technological issues related to the actual use of hydrogen and confirming the economics involve. Another point to consider regarding what should be aimed at for implementation during the latter half of the 2020’s is the creation of strategic, cooperative relations with countries supplying hydrogen, the bringing in of hydrogen from overseas assuming a price or 30 per Nm2 for hydrogen acquired at the plant, and the establishment of a major hydrogen supply system. Also, regarding one area of demand for hydrogen, full scale hydrogen power generation should be brought in and in addition to the conventional concept of “electric and thermal power generation” the new concept of “hydrogen power generation” should be introduced as secondary dimension of energy. Furthermore specific points include the following: Targeting for an appearance around 2040, CCS (Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage) and renewable energy in Japan and abroad should be combined. In this way, a supply system for CO2 free hydrogen production, transportation, and storage should be established step by step in 3 phases so that a hydrogen society can be brought into being. Also, for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to be held in 2020, tying in with the “Tokyo Strategy Conference for Bringing about a Hydrogen Society” which the city of Tokyo established last May, plans have been revealed to demonstrate for the world the potential of hydrogen, including the utilization of the stationary fuel cells installed at Olympics village.

The time framework for introduction under the leadership of the national government

The scale of the market in Japan for the equipment and infrastructure industry of hydrogen and fuel cells presumed by the “Roadmap” as of 2030 should amount to about 1 trillion but as of 2050 the scale of the market should greatly expand, reaching about 8 trillion. The “Roadmap” is also intended to provide that the “national government will be focusing on” supporting the introduction, developing, verifying and reconsidering the regulations toward practical use of the technology using hydrogen such as stationary fuel cells, fuel cell vehicles (FCV) and hydrogen power stations as well as the hydrogen supply technology for “production, transportation, and storage” up to around 2030, and then all of this should lead to “mainly private involvement.” This “Roadmap,” which has subtitles for “accelerating involvement related to the bringing about of the hydrogen society,” is also characterized by a startup under the leadership and thrust of the national government.

Amidst this, regarding the generation of electricity using hydrogen, this will be an area demanding a large amount of hydrogen. While this is an area which is still not at the stage in which it will go into practical use, the idea is that by around next year a specific plan will be decided upon, and a start will be made with the development and verification tests of a gas turbine for the generation of electrical power using hydrogen.