Iwatani Corporation (President: Masao Nomura) opened “Iwatani H2 Station Morinomiya” at Morinomiya, Joto-ku Osaka located near Osaka Castle, and also a mobile H2 station in the vicinity of its Osaka Head Office. On May 9, Iwatani inaugurated an opening ceremony at Morinomiya.

The station at Morinomiya was constructed in a land area of about 1390m2 leased from Osaka Prefecture which designated Iwatani Corporation as a company for “H2 station utilizing a prefectural land and the development project of information dispatching base”.

In addition to screening of images, combined facilities are provided to display the components of the station including a diorama simulating a hydrogen society, the accumulator and valves as well as the pressure regulator, so that the station can play the role of an information dispatching base of hydrogen energy. The station, which is provided with a liquefied H2 tank having a capacity of 24 thousand liter, employs an off-site system to transport liquefied H2 from Hydro-Edge Sakai Plant and has an H2 filling capacity of 300Nm3/h. The components include Linde compressor, Samtech accumulator (300 ℓ×3) and the dispenser made by Hitachi Automotive System Management.

In the opening remarks of the ceremony President Masao Nomura said, “This station is provided with a space to introduce the right knowledge of hydrogen using images and miniatures, so that the station may make people feel more familiar with hydrogen as an energy. We would like the regional people to make access to this place with familiarity.”　

Ichiro Matsui Governor of Osaka Prefecture representing the guests showed enthusiasm saying, “I think that it is our role to make the most of the H2 energy which is an environment-friendly and inexhaustible energy for the future of Japan. Osaka Prefecture has a plan as to utilization of H2 such as the H2 OSAKA VISION, and I would like to diffuse the message nationwide in a joint effort with the Government and private industries.”

The mobile “IWATANI H2 Station Osaka Hommachi” neighboring to the head office which is a similar system to “Iwatani H2 Station Fukuoka Prefectural Office” installed last November (See Report No. 830) has already started operation since April 11. Both Morinomiya and Hommachi stations are open from Monday thru Friday (9:00 to 22:00) and Saturday (9:00 to 17:00) being closed on Sundays and holidays.