Activities of Kawasaki Heavy Industries for Realization of International Hydrogen Supply Chain

In order to achieve a “Carbon-Free Society” where society as a whole will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to reach zero net carbon emission by 2050, the use of renewable energy as alternatives to fossil fuels is required. However, renewable energy has issues that it requires a bigger resource input and physical footprint than fossil energy due to its low power density, and that a stable power supply is not likely to be expected due to the meteorological effect. Hence, expectation and interest in hydrogen energy are increasing as the last resort.<br>Kawasaki Heavy Industries （hereafter KHI） is the only company that owns a series of core technology regarding hydrogen production, transportation, storage, and utilization. KHI has been developing technologies to produce hydrogen from untapped resources overseas and transport it to final destination, Japan. In the field of hydrogen transportation and storage, KHI built not only the largest liquefied hydrogen storage tank in Japan at Kobe LH2 Terminal （Hy touch Kobe） but also the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier “SUISO FRONTIER”. On February 2022, KHI succeeded in the world’s first maritime transport demonstration of liquefied hydrogen from Australia to Japan, which is produced from untapped brown coal in Latrobe Valley of Victoria, Australia. As for hydrogen utilization, KHI installed cogeneration facility with 1 MW gas turbine as the core, which is fueled by hydrogen and natural gas, in Kobe Port Island, and succeeded in the world’s first delivery of both energy and heat in an urban area generated using a gas turbine fueled by 100％ hydrogen on April 2018.<br>Based on the findings from those demonstration tests, KHI will develop technologies for large-scale hydrogen production, and plans to conduct commercial demonstration in Late 2020s to realize a full-scale commercialization in 2030.