Japanese electronic products group Panasonic has inaugurated a fuel cell low-carbon demonstration project in Cardiff, UK.

In an event attended by Kallanish on Tuesday, the company unveiled the retrofit of its 50-year-old plant. It will now rely only on electricity produced by solar PV and 21.5-kilowatt fuel cell generators powered by green hydrogen sourced from UK producer Protium. Contract terms with Protium remain confidential, Panasonic representatives say.

Batteries with a total capacity of 1 megawatt-hour will store the energy when the factory is not operational. The fuel cells are manufactured by Panasonic while the batteries are being purchased from an undisclosed supplier.

The Cardiff facility, which produces microwave ovens, is the first Panasonic plant to pilot these technologies. A second proof of concept will be unveiled at another Panasonic site in Germany next year.

Panasonic is investing €130 million ($136m) to develop the so-called “Panasonic HX” technology in Japan and then install it in Cardiff and Germany. The group is targeting net-zero emissions by 2050, with a 2030 goal of reducing and avoiding 110 million tonnes of CO2.

The heat generated by the hydrogen fuel cells, a by-product of electricity production, will be used to heat spaces and domestic hot water, replacing the gas boiler. No fossil fuels will be used at the Cardiff facility.

Commissioning of renewable energy will begin this month, with the factory becoming fully operational in March.

“The proof of concept will mean that we are able to demonstrate, to share with others, the technologies that are available, the technologies and the systems that Panasonic can provide in enabling companies to hit their own sustainability goals,” Helen Walker, HR general manager and company secretary for Panasonic Manufacturing UK, tells Kallanish.

“The proof of concept here in Cardiff is that you don’t have to be this fresh, newly built facility, purposely built to house this technology. It can work [in brownfield operations], and we are proof – we are 50 years old,” she adds.

Panasonic ceo Masahiro Shinada says the Cardiff demonstration builds on the work done in Japan, where there is a similar demo facility. In Cardiff, each generator has a 5-kW power output and can produce 3.4 kW of heat. 

Earlier this year, Panasonic announced it planned to launch the so-called PH3 fuel cell power generator in Europe, Australia and China, after demonstrations in Cardiff and Germany. This product can output a maximum of 10-kW of DC power and generate around 8.2 kW of heat. A higher output can be achieved by connecting multiple units (up to 250 modules).  

Yet, company executives told reporters it’s currently hard to find customers in Europe because hydrogen prices are high. Some customers, mostly based in Japan, intend to use fuel cells with blue H2 with a view to changing to green hydrogen in the future.

The plan is for Panasonic to look for “realistic customers” once the proof-of-concept in Germany is completed. The focus will be on Europe, as it’s the fastest growing market outside of Japan. Other regions are not being considered at the moment.