The University of Texas at Austin, Center for Electromechanics (UT-CEM) and GTI plan to install the first permanent hydrogen fueling station packaged by GreenField Compression Inc. of Richardson, Texas and deploy the first zero-emission fuel cell hybrid bus in the State of Texas this summer. The Federal government, including the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and private industry have funded over $20 million to develop these advanced fueling and vehicle technologies.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), GTI, GreenField Compression, and the University of Texas at Austin added over $2 million more to commercialize the hydrogen fueling technology and deploy the fuel cell hybrid bus.

“With substantial investment and growing interest in fuel cell technology, exciting new market opportunities are opening up for hydrogen — especially in the transportation market. Fueling infrastructure development is critical to realizing the potential of new advanced technology vehicles,” notes Tony Lindsay, R&D Manager, Hydrogen and Advanced Energy Systems. “GTI is pleased to play an important role in bringing to market technology that will help to reduce our dependence on imported petroleum and have a positive impact on our environment.”

GreenField is a leader in the installation of alternative-fuel systems in North America and worldwide and will manufacture this hydrogen fueling technology at its headquarters in Richardson. UT-CEM is currently improving vehicle systems for military applications and is pursuing an enhanced program of technology development and assessment for newly-commercialized hydrogen vehicles and fueling systems.

“The deployment of the zero-emission bus and hydrogen fueling station at the University’s J.J. Pickle Research Campus will be the foundation for an ‘early-adopter’ program for assessing newly-commercialized hydrogen vehicles and fueling systems,” states Richard Thompson, the UT-CEM Program Manager for hybrid vehicles. “The UT/GTI collaboration represents an important milestone in establishing Texas’ prominence in advanced clean energy technologies.”

Construction of a hydrogen fueling station in San Carlos, California is also scheduled to begin this summer. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) was recently awarded a California Air Resources Board (CARB) grant for the project. GTI will serve as a partner on the project, providing a mobile hydrogen unit (MHU) that uses GTI’s patented reformer technology. This self-contained unit will produce hydrogen from natural gas and condition it to serve the on-site dispenser during the development of a hydrogen fueling network in California. The hydrogen fueling station will be co-located with a publicly accessible compressed natural gas station to allow for 24/7 availability. Once sufficient demand is established, the MHU can be replaced with permanent facilities, and the unit can then be relocated to expand the network.

GTI will also be opening a publicly-accessible hydrogen fueling station with credit card access at its headquarters in Des Plaines, Illinois in early April this year. This and other efforts build off a major hydrogen infrastructure technology development effort funded by DOE and GTI.

GTI is the leading research, development and training organization serving the natural gas industry. For more than 60 years, GTI has been meeting the nation's energy and environmental challenges by developing technology-based solutions for consumers, industry, and government.