Schatz Center
The final troubleshooting is complete at the Humboldt State Hydrogen Fueling Station. We are now producing and dispensing hydrogen gas reliably. Dave Hoskins, equipment technician at the Telonicher Marine Laboratory in Trinidad, CA and the primary Prius driver, is now able to refuel the Prius unassisted. The station is running as designed with no operator intervention, and the data acquisition system now allows for remote data collection.
In April we traveled to Columbia, South Carolina to present operational data at the annual National Hydrogen Association (NHA) Hydrogen Conference and Expo. Graduate Student Research Assistant Andrea Allen presented data on the amount of hydrogen the fueling station produces on a monthly basis, the total energy required to produce the hydrogen, and the amount of energy used individually by the electrolyzer and compressor. These data are important for researchers using economic modeling to study hydrogen transportation. Even though the HSU fueling station is small compared to other stations, and our data are not necessarily representative of the energy requirements to produce and compress hydrogen gas, we hope to start a trend among fueling stations to more openly share data. We think such a trend will serve to benefit the hydrogen community.
