Akasaka Heating&Cooling Supply Co.,Ltd (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo), Ltd. which operates and manages a district heating and cooling system for the stable supply of energy produced in an underground plant to buildings in the Akasaka 5-chome district of Minato-ku, Tokyo, including the TBS Broadcasting Center,
hereby announces that it has installed facilities utilizing green hydrogen. This new development marks the first such initiative for a district heating and cooling company in central Tokyo. By harnessing green hydrogen to generate electricity with fuel cells, and by switching some fuels from city gas, Akanetsu aims to help reduce CO2 emissions in the process of producing cooling and heat. In this initiative, which is unique in Japan, installation of facilities is expected to be completed by October 2025, with green hydrogen transactions to begin in January 2026.
1. Facility Overview
Green hydrogen produced in Japan using renewable energy is transported by trailer to the Akasaka area of Tokyo, where it is stored in hydrogen storage alloy tanks manufactured by Shimizu Corporation and used as fuel for fuel cells and boilers.
2. Details of Installed Facilities:
Hydrogen storage tanks
These are safe and compact hydrogen storage alloy tanks,capturing the benefits offered by hydrogen adsorbed on aspecial alloy to reduce hydrogen gas volume to 1/1000 of itsoriginal volume for storage. Unlike conventional liquefied hydrogen tanks and high-pressure containers, hydrogen adsorbed on hydrogen storage alloys is handled at a low pressure of less than 1 MPa, and the use of non-hazardous alloys that do not ignite when placed near fire ensures safety for installation inside buildings.
In addition, these rare earth-free alloys contribute to cost reductions.
Specifications: Hydrogen storage alloy tank (manufacturer: Shimizu Corporation)Capacity: 1,350 Nm3 (when combined with fuel cells, enables supply of 5,000W of electricity for about 2 weeks)
Fuel cells
These supply power to LED lights, some air conditioning, and emergency outlets on the plant premises. It provides “carbon zero” (carbon-free) electricity by generating electricity using green hydrogen and operates independently not only on a daily basis but also in the event of a power outage.
Specifications: Pure hydrogen fuel cell (manufactured by Panasonic Corporation) Power generation capacity: 5,000W x 2 units.
Hydrogen boilers
Hydrogen-mixing combustion boilers have been selected to achieve use of dual fuels between hydrogen and city gas. Of the heat source machinery in the plant, these will be installed for boilers that emit relatively large amounts of CO2.
Specifications: Hydrogen-mixing once-through boiler (manufactured by Hirakawa Corporation)
Converted steam volume: 2,000 kg/h x 2 units Mixing ratio: 50% (by volume, maximum ratio) of hydrogen and city gas 13A.
Press release https://tinyurl.com/f5bepv4v
