Southern California Gas has broken ground on construction of a first-of-its-kind advanced hydrogen generation system at SunLine Transit Agency in Thousand Palms, California.
The project, called H2 SilverSTARS, will produce hydrogen from renewable natural gas (RNG) and help fuel SunLine’s fleet of 17 hydrogen fuel cell electric buses, according to a press release.
At scale, this demonstration project has the potential to provide clean hydrogen at any location adjacent to a natural gas pipeline, which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate California’s climate and clean air goals.
The demonstration will test STARS’ technology, which was developed at the Pacific Northwest National Lab. The technology uses a combustion free process, so that it produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to a conventional steam methane reforming process. Since the compact system is based on low-cost 12×1-inch, 3D-printed reactor disks and heat exchangers, it can be easily installed at fueling stations to help meet the demand while advancing climate and clean air goals. After its installation, the first STARS system will produce up to 80 kilograms of clean hydrogen a day, that’s enough to fuel three of SunLine’s zero-emission buses per day.
Clean fuel vehicles are expected to play an important role in meeting the state’s climate and clean air goals. In California, Governor Newsom’s executive order requires that all new cars sold in the state be zero-emissions by 2035. Californians having access to clean hydrogen generation systems, like H2 SilverSTARS, could be part of the clean energy transition.
The SunLine Transit Agency is on track to be fully transitioned to zero emissions by 2035 – five years ahead of the deadline set in the state’s ICT Regulation (2040), according to the release. In addition to SunLine’s PEM Hydrogen Electrolyzer – the largest clean hydrogen-producing station in the country for transportation – its Liquid Hydrogen Station project has been funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) and will expand the Agency’s hydrogen fueling capacity for the existing fueling infrastructure.
SunLine Transit Agency recently received a California Energy Commission award for the construction of a 15,000 – 18,000-gallon liquid hydrogen fueling station.
