(Plenary) Introduction of National Projects Concerning Fuel-Cells in Japan
Authors: Hara Daishu 
Published: July 2021

In 2017, the Japanese Government formulated the “Basic Hydrogen Strategy” as a future vision that Japan should aim to achieve by 2050. It also serves as an action plan through to 2030 to realize the vision in order to accomplish the first hydrogen society in the world. With the release of the Basic Hydrogen Strategy, the Government also revised the “Strategic Road Map for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells” in 2018. In addition, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan (METI) and the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization in Japan (NEDO) established the “Hydrogen Energy Ministerial Meeting” as a space for discussions among the cabinet members of major countries, and discussions about the actions taken by each country regarding their hydrogen policy were held in 2018, 2019, and 2020 respectively. Furthermore, on December 25, 2020, METI formulated the “Green Growth Strategy towards 2050 Carbon Neutrality” in collaboration with related ministries and agencies in Japan. This strategy is an industrial policy targeting the challenging goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. It emphasizes the importance of hydrogen utilization for a positive cycle of economic growth and environmental protection.

In this way, the Government of Japan is strongly promoting a wide variety of policies toward the increased use of hydrogen energy. And, as one of the largest organizations promoting national projects in this country, NEDO has implemented projects aimed at increased sophistication of performance in response to the spread and expansion of fuel cells under the cooperation of various leading researchers from industry, academia, and government.

Some of the representative projects are introduced as follows:

Development of Advanced PEFC Utilization Technologies (Fiscal Years 2015–2019)

This project involved not only research on the fundamental technologies contributing to the enhancement of efficiency and cost reduction of automotive fuel cell systems but also a demonstration of a production process of products was promoted to establish the technologies necessary for the widespread use of a large quantity of PEFCs in the future.

Development of Technologies to Promote Practical Application of SOFCs (Fiscal Years 2013–2019)

The purpose of this project was to conduct research and demonstration for the deployment of intermediate to large-capacity solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems for high efficiency and durability.

Collaborative Industry-Academia-Government R&D Project for Solving Common Challenges Toward Dramatically Expanded Use of Fuel Cells and Related Equipment (Fiscal Years 2020–2024)

Based on the status survey of companies that launched household fuel cells and fuel-cell vehicles onto the market, NEDO determined that it was necessary to alleviate common issues in the industry and to initiate a new fuel cell project. Therefore, NEDO planned a project for fundamental technologies in the cooperative domain, as well as technologies to be deployed to applications other than conventional ones in order to realize a highly-efficient, highly-durable, and low-cost fuel cell system (including a hydrogen storage tank and so on) contributing to self-sustaining spread and expansion in 2030 and beyond. NEDO also publicly solicited new participants at the end of the year, and as a result, 46 research groups were adopted to the project in 2020.