Showa Shell is a Japanese company 50 per cent owned by the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies (Shell). Shell Hydrogen, Shell's global hydrogen business, will be providing technological know-how for the refuelling station, which is due for completion in 2003. Shell is the only global energy group involved in demonstration projects in all three of the key hydrogen markets: the United States, Europe and Japan. 

Showa Shell's refuelling station is part of the Japan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Demonstration Project, a programme sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to build five hydrogen refuelling stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The station will provide liquid and compressed hydrogen to a fleet of prototype fuel cell vehicles, provided by several automotive companies, which will be tested on the city's streets. 

Showa Shell will operate the station for two years from April 2003. The 1,800-square-metre site of the new liquid hydrogen refuelling station is owned by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It is located in central Tokyo, close to Showa Shell's headquarters in Odaiba. 

Showa Shell and Shell Hydrogen will demonstrate safe and efficient hydrogen refuelling systems through this project, contributing to Shell's worldwide effort to develop global standards for hydrogen fuel stations. 

Shell's other hydrogen demonstration projects are in California, Iceland and the Netherlands. 

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Hydrogen Refueling Station Coming to Tokyo

Ho hum, I said when General Motors introduced AUTOnomy, the most radical concept car ever, at last year's Detroit auto show. Yeah, yeah, a platform that uses small electric motors to power each wheel, with power coming from a miniature hydrogen fuel cell. How nice. 

Maybe in your lifetime, Buck Rogers, but not in mine. 

However, those doubts were forced to undergo a serious re-think after a trip to General Motors' proving grounds in Michigan last month. And although I still remain dubious about cost effectiveness and the infrastructure systems needed for alternate fuel delivery, my mind is much more open. For not only did I see GM's fuel cell technology at work, I got to drive an Opel Zafira minivan powered by hydrogen.    
 
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New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.batteries.frost.com ), U.S. Micro Fuel Cell Markets for Mobile Devices, reveals that once commercialization begins in 2003, the industry is expected to ship over 117,000 units and will exceed four million units by 2008.

"One of the greatest limitations in the development of micro fuel cells is the space constraint," states Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Sara
Bradford. "For the technology to be successfully implemented into a mobile electronic device, it must be small enough to attach directly onto the product and still retain the ability to hold all the necessary combustion elements to ensure a proper chemical reaction."

At this stage in development, most emerging cell designs use a liquid fuel. Although methanol is currently one of the best options, certain cell
designs require a pump and pipe structure to complete the combustion process. As this system is difficult to achieve on a miniature scale, it results in a space constraint for micro fuel cells.

The problem is essentially of an engineering nature. Consistent investment into research and development is imperative for companies to remain competitive. Participants cannot afford to ignore public demand for smaller digital and cellular devices and the batteries that drive them.

Heeding this warning, developers are investing heavily in flexible designs that can fit into the mobile devices. One company has made some headway with a micro fuel cell prototype that incorporates a side-by-side design, making it well suited to semiconductor-manufacturing techniques.

Given the fierce competition to commercialize micro fuel cells, most corporate participants are extremely cautious in their attempts to solve these engineering design problems. Although commercialization is not expected until late 2003, new developments should continue to be researched as no industry standard has been presented as of yet.

"To sustain substantial technology breakthroughs in product design and functionality, an aggressive strategy is needed. Forming alliances with
companies to create the highest quality micro fuel cell for use with multiple applications is but one way of ensure efficient use of research and
development monies," says Bradford.

There are active moves afoot to mount fuel cells on mobile information devices. Above all, a news report that circulated in early March -- Casio Computer Co., Ltd. developing fuel cells for mobile terminals to go into practical use in 2004 -- astonished electronics makers in and out of Japan. 

That news was a big surprise for the following three reasons: (1) Casio as an equipment maker has no in-group division for the battery business, which already had started to develop fuel cells on its own; (2) The launch of such a battery for practical use was forwarded to 2004, one or two years earlier than other makers; and (3) A concrete product image was visualized by presenting a notebook PC mock-up, including a fuel cell lasting 20 hours
        
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The transport ministry plans to set up by the end of 2004 safety standards for fuel-cell motor vehicles, which are expected to fully hit the market in 2005, ministry officials said Tuesday. 

The safety standards are likely to cover areas such as the hydrogen gas tank and the motor, which is activated by a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, according to officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. 

Fuel-cell motor vehicles are the epitome of environmentally friendly cars since their only byproduct is water. 

By setting up the safety standards, the ministry hopes to promote use of the vehicles and so help reduce carbon dioxide in the air which causes global warming. 

Currently, a safety inspection is needed for each fuel-cell motor vehicle that is test-driven on  public roads, and only the person who requested the inspection can drive the car. 

The transport ministry plans to lift the strict regulation to allow more people to use fuel-cell cars by the end of this year, when trial sales of the vehicles are scheduled to start. 

Toyota Motor Corp. has announced it will start trial sales of fuel-cell hybrid cars around the year-end.

Honda Motor Co. may also release fuel-cell cars by the end of the year since the company has said it is speeding up its initial plan to release fuel-cell cars in 2003. 

A joint project team of the transport ministry, the Environment Ministry and the Ministry of  Economy, Trade and Industry is aiming to pave the way for common use of fuel-cell cars by 2005. 

It targets having 50,000 fuel-cell cars in use by fiscal 2010, and 5 million by fiscal 2020.  
                      

Plug Power Inc. (Nasdaq: PLUG - News) introduced today the GenSys(TM)5C, the Company's new Combined Heat and
Power (CHP) fuel cell system, at the Town Hall in Babylon, N.Y.

The Plug Power GenSys(TM)5C unit is installed and operating at the Babylon Town Hall where it provides supplemental
heat and electricity to the facility. "LIPA is proud to be a pioneer in the field of fuel cell technology," said LIPA Chairman
Richard M. Kessel. "LIPA believes that fuel cells hold the key to achieving true distributed generation that makes
economic and environmental sense. Installation of this unit will help us better understand the issues associated with the
integration of fuel cells at customers' facilities where heat produced by the units can also be used."

The GenSys(TM)5C, which is based on Plug Power's proprietary technology, captures the heat generated during the
production of electricity and makes it available for integration into a heating or hot water system. The system is capable
of generating 5kW of electricity and 9kW of heat and is available immediately, with an expected order-to-delivery
lead-time of eight to ten weeks.

"Our extensive field experience and market engagement activities over the past two years have allowed us to
incorporate direct customer feedback into the GenSys(TM)5C product," said Mark Sperry, Plug Power Vice President and
Chief Marketing Officer. "The increased efficiency achieved by capturing and utilizing the heat generated within the
system enables a lower total cost of energy, which is critical to our customers."

Plug Power has been awarded multiple patents pertaining to combined heat and power fuel cell products. The patents
cover the use and control of an integrated fuel cell system for providing electricity and domestic hot water to a building.
The Company's current patent portfolio includes 53 issued patents and 130 patent applications pending worldwide.

GenSys(TM)5C was evaluated and certified by CSA International (CSA) and is certified as compliant with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for fuel cell power plants. The power conversion system was evaluated by the Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) and is listed as compliant with the standard for Inverters, Converters and Controllers for use in independent power systems. GenSys(TM)5C conforms to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) standards for Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC).

Plug Power designs, develops and manufacturers on-site electric power generation systems utilizing Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells for stationary applications. Plug Power's fuel cell systems are expected to be sold globally through a joint venture with General Electric and through DTE Energy Technologies in a four-state territory, which includes Michigan, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana. The Company's headquarters are located in Latham, N.Y., with offices in Washington, D.C. and The Netherlands.

The Honda FCX has become the  first fuel cell vehicle in the world to receive government certification, paving the way for the commercial use of fuel cell vehicles, American Honda Motor Co., Inc., announced today.

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The measure will be proposed at Thursday's meeting of an advisory panel as a way to encourage more companies to enter the power retail market and spur competition leading to lower energy costs, the officials said. 

The proposal is designed to enable companies with private power facilities for supply to factories and other uses to extend their transmission lines to provide excess energy to nearby factories and commercial facilities. 

Initially targeting large-lot users, the proposed measure will allow electricity users a wider choice of power suppliers, the officials said.  

New suppliers entering the partially liberalized market have so far been limited due to high fees for using the existing transmission networks of the 10 major electric power companies. 

Companies with their own distributed power sources are effectively prohibited from supplying excess energy outside their premises except for subsidiaries and other affiliated  users and within limited areas under government permission. 

Since most of the power sources are thermal power generators fueled by fuel oil and coal, METI plans to require the envisaged suppliers to take environmental measures, the officials said. 

METI is eyeing fuel cell-based power generation for use in the future, they said.  

The utilities sub-panel of the Industrial Structure Council is deliberating ways to further open up Japan's power retail market with an eye to full liberalization within five years. 
 

Millennium Cell Inc. (Nasdaq:MCEL), a leading technology company in the design and development of systems for the safe use of
hydrogen fuel in energy applications, and Aperion Energy Systems, an integrator of complete fuel cell systems, today announced
a formal development agreement to integrate Millennium Cell's Hydrogen on Demand(TM) fuel technology into the fuel cell
systems manufactured and marketed by Aperion.

UTC Fuel Cells, a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX), today announced the installation of a PC25 fuel cell system to provide distributed power at a health center in Austin, Texas.

The nation's top two automakers are shifting into high gear to earn a place in automotive history by becoming the first company in the world to roll out a commercial fuel-cell vehicle. 

Honda Motor Co. said Wednesday it will market a fuel-cell car at the end of 2002, one year ahead of its initial schedule. 

The announcement came just weeks after a similar decision from archrival Toyota Motor Corp. 

For automakers around the world, the stakes are huge. Fuel-cell vehicles, which are powered by hydrogen and produce no emissions, are eventually expected to become an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional motor vehicles powered by internal combustion engines. 

Toyota earned plaudits for being the first to commercialize an eco-friendly gas-electric hybrid vehicle. 

Honda expects to lease about 30 of its FCX fuel-cell vehicles in their first two to three years on the market. The vehicles will be available only in the Tokyo metropolitan area and the U.S. state of California. 

The FCX, loaded with 160 liters of pressurized hydrogen, can travel 355 kilometers on a single, three-minute charge of its fuel cell. 

In mid-July, the FCX became the first model to be certified as a fuel-cell vehicle by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board. Approval by the two key U.S. regulatory authorities is required for sales in California. 

Toyota said on July 1 that it plans to begin leasing fuel-cell vehicles at the end of this year, also one year ahead of its initial schedule. 

The automaker plans to lease about 20 fuel-cell vehicles a year, mainly to Japanese and U.S. government agencies. However, it has yet to obtain approval from U.S. authorities.