FEATURES

H2 infrastructure project for FCV finally getting into full swing

It is now 2014 and less than one year remains until the year in which fuel cell vehicles (FCV) start to go one sale. This year the construction of hydrogen stations will get into full swing. This year will therefore be a terrifically busy year indeed for the manufacturers of the high pressure hydrogen supply facilities which make up the stations and for the engineering companies.

However, when it comes to hydrogen stations for commercial use which are of such concern to everyone, no reports at all have come out of any of these actually having been completed. With the actual marketing of FCVs set to commence in 2015, the 4 municipal areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, Kansai (Osaka and surrounding cities), and Fukuoka have a total of 100 hydrogen stations ready ahead of that date as a goal. The government began to solicit companies to participate in this project in 2013. As of the end of June of last year, 19 locations where stations would be constructed had been announced.

Later, announcements by the companies to operate these stations gradually became more guarded. Even concerning the progress made regarding the construction of the stations, nothing specifically was mentioned. Comments have been heard among the manufacturers of the facilities making up the stations such as “The orders for equipment haven’t arrived yet, you see.”

Up to now 10 trial hydrogen stations have been constructed nationwide. The purpose of the stations to be constructed from now on is not merely just to have stations themselves, as had been the case up to now, but to construct them as part of a hydrogen supply system engaged in the filling of hydrogen for making money. Completing stations at a point in time when there are not any cars around to use them would not bring about one cent of income or profit in terms of business. It is alright to open stations at that point in time when there are cars around to use them. Still, the situation is such that one can only say that construction has been delayed enough for some comments expressing doubt to have started to be heard about whether 100 stations can really be made even under those circumstances.

How the business involving the hydrogen infrastructure will go depends on the spreading in use of the FCVs. Even if companies take the lead in getting involved in the infrastructure business, this does not necessarily mean that they will profit from this. It is because they will be running on a business line which it is very hard to discern. For this reason companies which have come out with specific announcements about when they would get into the business are rare. Most of them are in a situation whereby they will wait and see when an opportunity for getting into the business will arise. An infrastructure business cannot get going just through the efforts of wild entrepreneurs who plunge into the hydrogen business with the awareness of its red figure. How the roadmap by the council will look like is attracting attention for seeing how the government will back up the business and for discerning its attitude. (More details…See The Gas Review 384)


21 Feb. 2014

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