US-based PDC Machines recently attended the G7 political forum, showcasing its SimpleFuel all-in-one small-scale hydrogen refuelling station.
Marking the 49th summit of the landmark intra-governmental conference, this year’s G7 Summit included exhibitions from a range of international and Japanese companies involved in the manufacture of hydrogen-related products.
Having established a subsidy programme to promote the installation of hydrogen supply facilities for fuel-cell vehicles, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has extended this programme to include small-scale hydrogen supply facilities such as PDC’s SimpleFuel.
With the company receiving orders from Japanese customers for five locations in Japan, Kareem Afzal, CEO of PDC, praised the opportunity to demonstrate its technology at the event.
“It was a terrific honour to receive the invite,” he said. “At PDC, we view hydrogen as one of the keys to creating a sustainable future for generations to come, and we think it’s important for nations around the world, especially the member nations of the G7, to seriously consider a buildout of hydrogen infrastructure.”
“With hydrogen, we have an extremely dense energy carrier with the capacity to scale, making it suited to applications that wind or solar might not be.”
Considered a relative newcomer to the green energy stage in comparison to wind or solar, hydrogen’s increased capacity for scale and its potential to fast-track the energy transition from fossil fuels has brought it to the forefront of the climate change discussion.
In the US, this interest has been cultivated by new policies and investments, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which promises to invest $1.5bn in hydrogen over the next four years.
“Aside from decarbonisation, we view hydrogen as a terrific way to revive US manufacturing power and provide clean, well-paying jobs to a large number of people,” added Afzal.
PDC’s SimpleFuel refueller is an onsite hydrogen generation, compression, storage and fuelling system that uses water and electricity to produce 20kg per day high-purity fuel cell-grade hydrogen.
According to the company, its technology converts 3.8 gallons of filtered water into enough hydrogen fuel to allow on hydrogen-powered vehicle to travel over 360 miles.