GREEN HYDROGEN:ENERGY
THREE LOCALITIES UNITINGUNDER A PACIFIC ALLIANCE

With the goal of spreading the use of green hydrogen energy, which does not emit
CO2 , and generating a wave of change, three municipalities in Japan and theUnited States launched the Pacific Hydrogen Alliance (PHA) in 2023 as aninternational partnership. This article explores the aim of the alliance, as well as
the aspirations of one of its members, Fukushima Prefecture’s Namie Town.
Not only does it emit no carbon
dioxide either during production
or use, it also serves as a goodstorage medium for surplus power
and is easy to transport—thisalmost dreamlike energy, greenhydrogen, has high expectations
pinned on it as a key driver fordecarbonization. Yet, the path to its
widespread use remains uncertain
due to many challenges, including
cost and technological issues. To
initiate changes to that situation at
the municipal level, three localities
in Japan and the United States
joined forces to launch the PacificHydrogen Alliance (PHA) as aninternational partnership in 2023.
The members of the alliance are
the City of Lancaster in the stateof California and the County ofHawai‘i in the state of Hawai‘i,
both from the United States, andNamie Town in Japan’s Fukushima
In May 2023, Namie Town Mayor YOSHIDA
Eiko (right), Hawai‘i County Mayor Mitch Ross(center), and Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris(left) announced the establishment of thePacific Hydrogen Alliance (PHA).

Prefecture. Although Namie may
be a small municipality in thenature-rich Tohoku region ofnortheastern Japan, it has beena world pioneer in theimplementation of pilot projects
to apply hydrogen ever since the2020 opening of the Fukushima
Hydrogen Energy Research Field(FH2R)—one of the world’s largest
facilities producing hydrogenmainly through renewable energy.
Since a partnership agreement
was signed in 2021, Namie has been
deepening its cooperation with theCity of Lancaster, a leading U.S.
municipality in green hydrogen
initiatives. Collaborative ties
were expanded in 2022 with theFollowing the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011,
Namie Town has focused on introducing renewableenergy and hydrogen in an attempt to rebuild better.
In 2020, the New Energy and Industrial TechnologyDevelopment Organization (NEDO) began hydrogenproduction demonstrations at the Fukushima
Hydrogen Energy Research Field (FH2R).
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inclusion of the County of Hawai‘iwhen the three municipalities wereselected for the global initiative
known as H2 Twin Cities. In that
new undertaking, Lancaster andNamie act as mentors sharing
their expertise with Hawai‘iCounty, which aims to embark
on hydrogen utilization. Based on
this framework, the three entities
established PHA to promotehydrogen from a municipal leveland generate a wave of change.
“We all share the awareness thatrather than waiting for the adventof the hydrogen society, we should
create it ourselves. We want toenlarge the circle of like-mindedmunicipalities around the world,”
said KOBAYASHI Naoki, wholeads the New Energy Promotion
Section of Namie Town’s Office
Industrial Promotion Division.
Despite the alliance format,
energy situations differ by region,
so the three municipalities
advance their own plans andshare the knowledge and expertise
gained thereby for their mutual
benefit. They frequently holdweb meetings—sometimes oncea week. “There are a lot of things

that can’t be directly applied but
are still very informative. Theseexchanges also present valuable
opportunities for us to question
our social systems and ways ofthinking that may simply be taken
for granted.”
Other communities are boundto be greatly inspired by how
Namie is leading the way in giving
concrete form to the lifestyle andstructure of a “hydrogen society”
that remains largely invisible
and verifying it together with its
residents. There are now nearly 80
fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) runningon the streets of this small town,
from school buses and rental cars tomobile supermarkets. Namie is also
thoroughly engaged in building
up a hydrogen supply chain: pilot
projects are underway for the useof hydrogen at industrial parks,
public facilities, and commercial
facilities, among others, andthe town is also exploring lowcost hydrogen supply methods.
Hydrogen has now come to be
used at various places, including
the town office, schools, publicbaths, and cafés, and ordinary
households started its test use in
September 2023.
Gaining the understanding of theusers—people and companies—is amajor challenge in spreading the useof next-generation energy sources
such as hydrogen. In 2021, Namie
launched the Namie Hydrogen
Town Concept, its vision forutilizing hydrogen. While realizing
its initiatives in a visible, accessible
form for its residents, the town has
also striven to provide information
at schools and community events
so as to deepen understanding andinterest. “The awareness of beinga ‘hydrogen town’ is now deeply
ingrained in the community. Somebusinesses and residents actively
choose to own FCVs,” said
Kobayashi. “I look forward tothe day when hydrogen is socommonly used that the moniker‘hydrogen town’ becomes obsolete.
For people at all levels to have easy
access to green hydrogen through avariety of procurement methods—that is the ultimate goal of thePHA.”

Left: Since September 2023, Namie has been implementing a pilot project delivering small cylinders—filled with hydrogen and weighing around 2 kg each—to ordinary residences and other locations. In
this photo, a delivery driver is connecting the cylinder to a residential hydrogen fuel cell.
Right: Although Namie’s population decreased significantly—to approximately one-tenth of its
former size, or 2,200 people—following the 2011 earthquake, it has already built two hydrogenstations and makes widespread use of FCVs. JIJI