Toyota Harnesses Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology to Power its American Headquarters

The first Toyota hydrogen fuel cell cars will reach the market next year, but the company is already exploiting the technology to cut costs and carbon emissions at one of its largest office complexes.

A 1.11 megawatt stationary fuel cell has been installed at the Toyota Motor Sales headquarters near Los Angeles to generate electricity and reduce utility bills.

It supplies about half the power needed by the six buildings on site during the summer when demand is at its peak. The cell uses the same basic technology - a Proton Exchange Membrane - as the system installed in Toyota's forthcoming production car. PEM fuel cells are well-suited to use in vehicles as they can be turned on and off quickly.

Toyota's installation is the largest of its kind in the world and was the first application of a fuel cell as a stationary power generator. Mark Yamamuchi, who manages the site's sustainable strategy programme, said, "Most other fuel cell technologies need to run continuously to generate baseload power. This project is unique in that we are leveraging the characteristics of the PEM technology to load-follow."