-- BP launches eco-friendly refuel station

China's first hydrogen refuelling station and also BP's largest hydrogen transport project was opened in Beijing yesterday by BP and its partners, marking another step toward commercial application of hydrogen as a new energy resource for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs).
With a US$3.5 million investment from BP, the refuelling station is just a demonstration project, as the market for environmentally friendly FCVs is still a long way off.
The station is expected to provide first-hand experience in hydrogen fuelling and help build public awareness of emerging environmentally friendly technology, said Bill Fitzharris, general manager of Technology for Hydrogen for Transport, BP Plc.
"The first phase of the demo project is finished, targeted at accumulating experience for the actual operation and demonstrating of how hydrogen can be safe and environmentally friendly as an energy resource for fuel cell automobiles," Fitzharris said. "What follows next will start the second stage of the project, involving how we change the supply approach to hydrogen for the station next year."
Instead of delivering hydrogen from elsewhere, BP is supposed to reform natural gas at the refuelling station to produce hydrogen. Through that approach, logistics and storage costs will be avoided.
"The next phase will not change the refuelling capacity, but the way to get hydrogen," Fitzharris said. "We regard steam reforming as the most effective way to make hydrogen today."
Investment for the second phase of the project is included in the total US$3.5 million being poured into the refuelling station.
The current capacity of the demo station is based on six to seven working days per week of refuelling four fuel cell buses on a daily basis.
Despite being efficient and environmentally friendly, hydrogen is still expensive as a new energy resource.
"Fuel cells and hydrogen are still more expensive than conventional energy options for transport," Fitzharris noted. "The key is how to scale up production and further trim the cost of both fuel cells and hydrogen production."
Using small units to produce hydrogen will mean extra costs. Currently the cost of making hydrogen is two to three times that of petro. In the long term, mass production will cut the cost of getting hydrogen to the level of petro.
"That may happen between 2015 to 2020, as the production of hydrogen and fuel cells scales up gradually," the general manager said.
The same principle applies to fuel cells and FCVs as well, according to Fitzharris.
However, whether hydrogen stations or FCVs are mass produced first is still an open question.
"Nowadays, some automakers and BP are losing money building up units," he said. "What BP is trying to do is to build projects large enough to support more FCVs and to break even on that basis."
Hydrogen stations and FCVs depend on each other for profitability. BP and global FCV makers are co-operating closely to further drive the segment. But there will be no exclusive partnership formed between particular automakers and BP. The research and application platform will stay open, so that all players can join in to drive the market forward, Fitzharris said.
More efforts are needed to improve relevant technologies and trim costs before commercial operation of hydrogen FCVs becomes possible, said Lun Jingguang, national project co-ordinator of the Global Environment Facility-United Nations Development Program (UNDP)/China Co-operation Project.
"It will be a long journey. But we should stay confident, because it has been a big achievement already to put the technology into commercial operation," Lun said. "What is more important is that developing countries like China should adopt new technologies and solutions such as hydrogen-powered vehicles."
The BP-branded hydrogen refuelling station covers 4,000 square metres and will comprise a number of hydrogen supply infrastructures, such as gaseous trucked-in supply and on-the-spot natural gas reforming. BP's Chinese partner, SinoHytec, provided the land needed for the station.
Source: China Daily