Honda has begun operating a stationary fuel cell power station on its corporate campus in Torrance, Calif. The initiative leverages Honda’s hydrogen fuel cell technology expertise and contributes to the company’s global goal to achieve carbon neutrality for all products and corporate activities by 2050, Honda says.

Now fully operational as a demonstration program, Honda says its fuel cell power station supplies clean and quiet emergency backup power to the data center on the campus of American Honda Motor Co. In the coming years, Honda says it will begin applying a next-generation stationary fuel cell system to Honda manufacturing facilities and data centers globally.

The demonstration stationary fuel cell unit has a capacity of approximately 500 kW and reuses the fuel cell systems of previously leased Honda Clarity Fuel Cell vehicles, with a design that allows the output to increase every 250 kW packaged with four fuel cells, the company says. It features the flexibility to change the layout of the fuel cell units to suit the installation environment and to accommodate cubic, L-shaped, Z-shaped, and other packaging configurations. Future stationary FC units intended for commercialization will utilize Honda’s next-generation FC system jointly developed with General Motors and also set to power an all-new fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) based on the Honda CR-V coming in 2024, the company says.

Honda says its data centers require high-quality and reliable power, where any disruption in power supply can lead to downtime or problems such as data corruption and damage to servers. Typical stationary backup generators rely on diesel fuel. Backup power systems utilizing hydrogen fuel cells offer a promising future for clean, yet reliable and high-quality power generation, especially when operating on so-called “green hydrogen” made from renewable sources, with water vapor as the only emission, the company says.

Last fall, Honda announced that starting in 2024 it will produce an all-new hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) based on the recently launched, all-new Honda CR-V at its Performance Manufacturing Center (PMC) in Marysville, Ohio. The company has been developing hydrogen technologies and fuel cell vehicles for more than 30 years.

In addition to the continued applications to Honda fuel cell electric vehicles and stationary power generation, Honda recently announced it also will proceed with business development in the domains of commercial vehicles and construction equipment.