10 November 2016

Solar Frontier provides CIS PV panels for demonstration test of Honda's hydrogen production station

Tokyo-based Solar Frontier has provided a total of 20kW of its CIS (copper indium selenium) thin-film photovoltaic (PV) solar panels for Honda Motor Company's 70MPa Smart Hydrogen Station (SHS), for which demonstration testing began on 24 October in Tokyo. This marks the first time that Solar Frontier has supplied its solar panels for fuel-cell-powered automobile projects.

The demonstration test is being performed by Honda under the Japanese Ministry of the Environment's Low Carbon Technology Research and Development Program, with the aim of verifying the operational effect of the 70MPa SHS, which produces solar power-derived hydrogen. To examine the CO2 reduction effect under real-world city conditions and its practical utility as a transplantable power-generating facility, the test is putting the 70MPa SHS in operation with the Clarity Fuel Cell (Honda's new fuel-cell-powered vehicle) and the Power Exporter 9000 (Honda's V2L-compatible portable external power output device).

Picture: Solar Frontier's CIS thin-film solar modules installed on the 70MPa Smart Hydrogen Station.

The 70MPa SHS utilizes Power Creator, a high-differential-pressure electrolyzer system developed by Honda that generates high-pressure hydrogen gas without the use of a mechanical compressor. Solar Frontier's CIS thin-film solar panels act as the source of power in the Power Creator.

"The ultimate in eco cars are fuel-cell-powered automobiles that emit zero CO2 or exhaust gas, instead generating power through hydrogen and using that electricity to run," comments Solar Frontier's director & executive officer Shinji Kato.

Tags: CIS thin-film PV modules

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