State, City and Port of Long Beach officials Thursday joined Toyota Motor North America and FuelCell Energy to celebrate the grand opening of the first-of-its-kind “Tri-gen” system to generate renewable hydrogen, electricity and water to support operations at Toyota’s largest port facility in North America, according to the Port of Long Beach's release.
The Tri-gen system uses biogas to produce renewable electricity, renewable hydrogen, and usable water, and was built to support the vehicle processing and distribution center for Toyota Logistics Services at Long Beach, Toyota’s largest North American vehicle processing facility, which receives approximately 200,000 new Toyota and Lexus vehicles annually.
FuelCell Energy’s Tri-gen system opened last fall, producing green hydrogen, renewable electricity and usable water converted from biogas at California landfills.
The system is capable of generating up to 1,200 kg/day of hydrogen for fuel cell electric vehicles – the Toyota Mirai – imported to the terminal, and to supply an adjacent hydrogen refueling station to support Toyota Logistics Services and heavy-duty drayage trucks operating in the port complex.
The water byproduct of hydrogen generation can produce up to 1,400 gallons of usable water, which is being repurposed for Toyota’s car wash operations for vehicles that come into port before customer delivery, helping to reduce the demand on local water supplies by approximately half a million gallons per year.
The combustion-free process is a first of its kind nationally, reducing more than 9,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions and avoiding 6 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions.
The Port of Long Beach handles trade valued at $200 billion annually. In 2023, industry leaders named it “The Best West Coast Seaport in North America” for the fifth consecutive year. During the next 10 years, the Port is planning $2.3 billion in capital improvements.