Friday, July 10, 2009




HYDROGEN CAR









Hydro's President and CEO Eivind Reiten and State Secretary Steinulf Tungesvik of the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications took a spin in a hydrogen-powered car during the opening of Hydro's hydrogen fueling station in Porsgrunn last week.
"The future belongs to those who can develop new energy solutions with little impact on the environment," Reiten said at the opening ceremony.
"The work with the Hydrogen Highway and the hydrogen station here at Porsgrunn is an example that it is possible to find solutions that are good for the environment when politicians, the authorities, organizations and industry pull in the same direction."
About 40 public and private partners are cooperating in building the 'Hydrogen Highway' between Oslo and Stavanger.
In addition to Oslo, Porsgrunn and Stavanger, stations will be built in Lyngdal and Drammen for the Hydrogen Highway opening in 2009.
Reiten helped State Secretary Tungesvik fill up the first "tank" of hydrogen in one of the new vehicles. Tungesvik was also the first to actually drive one of the cars for a short tour.
"Hydrogen can be one of the future’s most important energy carriers for transportation. It is, however, vital to produce the hydrogen from renewable energy sources, or from fossil fuels in which the CO2 emissions has been taken care of," Tungesvik said, before sliding behind the wheel.
The petrochemicals plant at nearby Rafnes supplies hydrogen as a by-product of its other activities , and the energy used in the hydrogen production comes from pure hydropower. An undersea gas pipeline transports the hydrogen from Rafnes across a fjord to the hydrogen station.
The station is the first in Norway that is directly connected to the source of production, which also lessens the environmental impact of transport. The location near a large industrial site also makes it easier to expand later, as demand for hydrogen increases.

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