With Tesla battery packs and largest hydrogen tank in Japan, Panasonic tests a factory of the future

Published

3 years ago

December 11, 2022

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As a bullet train speeds by in the background, a liquid hydrogen tank towers over solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells at Panasonic’s Kusatsu plant in Japan. Combined with a Tesla Megapack storage battery, the hydrogen and solar can deliver enough electricity to power the site’s Ene-Farm fuel cell factory.

Tim Hornyak

As bullet trains whiz by at 285 kilometers per hour, Panasonic’s Norihiko Kawamura looks over Japan’s tallest hydrogen storage tank. The 14-meter structure looms over the Tokaido Shinkansen Line tracks outside the ancient capital of Kyoto, as well as a large array of solar panels, hydrogen fuel cells and Tesla Megapack storage batteries. The power sources can generate enough juice to run part of the manufacturing site using renewable energy only.

“This may be the biggest hydrogen consumption site in Japan,” says Kawamura, a manager at the appliance maker’s Smart Energy System Business Division. “We estimate using 120 tons of hydrogen a year. As Japan produces and imports more and more hydrogen in the future, this will be a very suitable kind of plant.”

Sandwiched between a high-speed railway and highway, Panasonic’s factory in Kusastsu, Shiga Prefecture, is a sprawling 52 hectare site. It was originally built in 1969 to manufacture goods including refrigerators, one of the “three treasures” of household appliances, along with TVs and washing machines, that Japanese coveted as the country rebuilt after the devastation of World War II.

Today, one corner of the plant is the H2 Kibou Field, a demonstration sustainable power facility that started operations in April. It consists of a 78,000-liter hydrogen fuel tank, a 495 kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell array made up of 99 5kW fuel cells, 570kW from 1,820 photovoltaic solar panels arranged in an inverted “V” shape to catch the most sunlight, and 1.1 megawatts of lithium-ion battery storage.

On one side of the H2 Kibou Field, a large display indicates the amount of power being produced in real time from fuel cells and solar panels: 259kW. About 80% of the power generated comes from fuel cells, with solar accounting for the rest. Panasonic says the facility produces enough power to meet the needs of the site’s fuel cell factory — it has peak power of about 680kW and annual usage of some 2.7 gigawatts. Panasonic thinks it can be a template for the next generation of new, sustainable manufacturing.

“This is the first manufacturing site of its kind using 100% renewable energy,” says Hiroshi Kinoshita of Panasonic’s Smart Energy System Business Division. “We want to expand this solution towards the creation of a decarbonized society.”

The 495kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell array is made up of 99 5KW fuel cells. Panasonic says it’s the world’s first site of its kind to use hydrogen fuel cells toward creating a manufacturing plant running on 100% renewable energy.

Tim Hornyak

An artificial intelligence-equipped Energy Management System (EMS) automatically controls on-site power generation, switching between solar and hydrogen, to minimize the amount of electricity purchased from the local grid operator. For example, if it’s a sunny summer day and the fuel cell factory needs 600kW, the EMS might prioritize the solar panels, deciding on a mixture of 300kW solar, 200 kW hydrogen fuel cells, and 100kW storage batteries. On a cloudy day, however, it might minimize the solar component, and boost the hydrogen and storage batteries, which are recharged at night by the fuel cells.

“The most important thing to make manufacturing greener is an integrated energy system including renewable energy such as solar and wind, hydrogen, batteries and so on,” says Takamichi Ochi, a senior manager for climate change and energy at Deloitte Tohmatsu Consulting. “To do that, the Panasonic example is close to an ideal energy system.”

With grey hydrogen, not totally green yet

The H2 Kibou Field is not totally green. It depends on so-called grey hydrogen, which is generated from natural gas in a process that can release a lot of carbon dioxide. Tankers haul 20,000 liters of hydrogen, chilled in liquid form to minus 250 Celsius, from Osaka to Kusatsu, a distance of some 80 km, about once a week. Japan has relied on countries like Australia, which has greater supplies of renewable energy, for hydrogen production. But local supplier Iwatani Corporation, which partnered with Chevron earlier this year to build 30 hydrogen fueling sites in California by 2026, has opened a technology center near Osaka that is focused on producing green hydrogen, which is created without the use of fossil fuels.

Another issue that is slowing adoption is cost. Even though electricity is relatively expensive in Japan, it currently costs much more to power a plant with hydrogen than using power from the grid, but the company expects Japanese government and industry efforts to improve supply and distribution will make the element significantly cheaper.

“Our hope is that hydrogen cost will go down, so we can achieve something like 20 yen per cubic meter of hydrogen, and then we will be able to achieve cost parity with the electrical grid,” Kawamura said.

Hydrogen market to grow 200-fold in next decade, predicts Goldman Sachs

Panasonic is also anticipating that Japan’s push to become carbon-neutral by 2050 will boost demand for new energy products. Its fuel cell factory at Kusatsu has churned out over 200,000 Ene-Farm natural gas fuel cell for home use. Commercialized in 2009, the cells extract hydrogen from natural gas, generate power by reacting it with oxygen, heat and store hot water, and deliver up to 500 watts of emergency power for eight days in a disaster. Last year, it began selling a pure hydrogen version targeted at commercial users. It wants to sell the fuel cells in the U.S. and Europe because governments there have more aggressive hydrogen cost-cutting measures than Japan. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy launched a so-called Hydrogen Shot program that aims to slash the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram over 10 years.

Panasonic doesn’t plan to increase the scale of its H2 Kibou Field for the time being, wanting to see other companies and factories adopt similar energy systems.

It won’t necessarily make economic sense today, Kawamura says, “but we want to start something like this so it will be ready when the cost of hydrogen falls. Our message is: if we want to have 100% renewable energy in 2030, then we must start with something like this now, not in 2030.”

Japan's nuclear energy reversal 'is very good and encouraging news,' IEA director says

Environment

Volkswagen is about to unveil its most affordable electric SUV

Published

2 hours ago

September 1, 2025

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Volkswagen is about to unveil its most affordable electric SUV

With just a week left until its official debut, Volkswagen is giving us a sneak peek of its most affordable electric SUV, the ID.2. Here’s our closest look at the new entry-level EV.

The Volkswagen ID.2 is an affordable electric SUV

Volkswagen is revamping its electric car lineup with a new family of entry-level models, starting with the ID.2. The ID.2 is an electric hatch that VW promises is “spacious like a Golf,” yet still “affordable like a Polo.

With a starting price of around € 25,000 ($29,000), the ID.2 will be among the most affordable electric cars on the market.

Shortly after launching the electric hatch, Volkswagen is set to introduce an SUV version of the ID.2, which could be an even bigger hit. The ID.2 SUV will sit below the ID.3 and ID.4 in Volkswagen’s EV lineup as an even more affordable crossover SUV option.

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Although we’ve seen the hatch out testing a few times, the SUV version has been mostly kept under wraps outside of a blurry image from December 2023. That is, until now.

Volkswagen’s design boss, Andreas Mindt, offered a closer look at the ID.2 SUV on Monday, releasing a few new teasers. The images reveal a sleek new look from its current ID models, closer in style to the updated T-Roc, which was unveiled last week.

Mindt said the “design speaks for itself.” The ID.2 and SUV versions will be based on a new MEB+ platform, which will underpin Volkswagen’s upcoming lineup of entry-level EVs.

The hatch will be offered with two battery pack options: 38 kWh or 56 kWh, offering a WLTP range of up to 280 miles. Volkswagen has yet to reveal final prices and range for the SUV version.

According to VW’s tech development boss, Kai Grünitz, the brand’s EV lineup is in line for a major refresh. Grünitz told Autocar that “huge improvements” were coming, including updated styling inside and out.

Volkswagen-ID.2-EV-interior — Volkswagen’s ID 2all EV interior (Source: VW)

The interior will feature the new design, which includes a 12.9″ infotainment and 10.9″ driver display screens and plenty of physical controls. There will also be a few fun added features like the ability to switch between drive modes that resemble Volkswagen classics, like the Golf or Beetle.

Since the ID.4 starts at around 35,000 euros ($41,000) to 40,000 euros ($47,000), depending on the market, you can expect prices to be slightly lower, likely at around 30,000 euros ($35,000).

Volkswagen will unveil the ID.2 SUV next week at the Munich Motor Show on September 7. The German auto giant claims the ID.2 SUV “is another important step towards bringing affordable electric mobility to the masses.” It’s expected to hit the market next year following the hatch version. We’ll learn more at the event.

Although the ID.2 is not expected to be sold in the US, Volkswagen’s current SUV, the ID.4, is actually already one of the most affordable electric SUVs. Volkswagen is currently offering ID.4 leases as low as $129 per month. That’s even cheaper than a Jetta.

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Environment

An Iowa nuclear plant is the next contender to restart, spurred by AI data center demand

Published

4 hours ago

September 1, 2025

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An Iowa nuclear plant is the next contender to restart, spurred by AI data center demand

The Duane Arnold nuclear plant northwest of Cedar Rapids, Iowa is pressing ahead with plans to restart operations by the end of the decade after shutting down for economic reasons in 2020.

The plant is the third – and likely the last – mothballed reactor in the U.S. that is in shape to come back online to support growing electricity demand in the U.S.

Duane Arnold would follow similar restarts planned for the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan and Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, which plan to resume operations later this year and in 2027, respectively, subject to approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved a request last week from NextEra Energy, Duane Arnold’s owner, to let the nuclear plant reconnect to the electric grid. NextEra sees Duane Arnold restarting operations by the fourth quarter of 2028 at the earliest, according to FERC filings.

“While a significant amount of work needs to be done before the facility could be restarted, FERC’s decision is another positive step in the process,” Neil Nissan, a NextEra spokesperson, said in a statement to CNBC.

Power purchase agreement

With big technology companies looking to feed more nuclear power on to the grid to fuel the electricity-hungry data centers they are building to train artificial intelligence, Florida-based NextEra is aiming to win a lucrative power purchase agreement to restart Duane Arnold. Three Mile Island, for example, is restarting with financial support from a power agreement with Microsoft.

“The recommissioning of Duane Arnold has received significant commercial interest from premier American companies,” Garrett Goldfinger, the NextEra executive in charge of the restart project, told FERC in a late July filing.

Duane Arnold would bring more than 600 megawatts of electricity back to the grid, equivalent to the electricity needs of more than 400,000 homes.

“If we’re successful in bringing Duane forward, that obviously creates a hot bed of data center activity around that facility,” NextEra CEO John Ketchum told investors on the company’s July earnings call.

‘Unicorn opportunities’

Duane Arnold, Palisades and Three Mile Island are three of the 10 U.S. reactors that closed over the past decade as nuclear power strained to compete against cheap natural gas and renewable energy.

Restarting these plants is the most concrete sign yet that the nuclear industry is coming back after years of financial struggles.

“These are unique opportunities because you don’t face the new build costs associated with nuclear,” Ketchum said on NextEra’s earnings call. “These are really unicorn-type opportunities.”

NextEra, the largest renewable power developer in the U.S., had previously divided up Duane Arnold’s grid connection among multiple solar farms that the company was developing in response to the demand in Iowa for lower cost electricity.

But the market last year started to shift back in favor of high-capacity nuclear power as the U.S. saw an unprecedented increase in electricity demand from industry and data centers, NextEra said in its filing to FERC.

NextEra is now consolidating those solar grid connections back into a single one for Duane Arnold after securing FERC approval. This will “provide commercial and financial certainty to support the recommissioning effort and expedite the resumption of clean, reliable operations at Duane Arnold,” Goldfinger told FERC.

Capital intensive

NextEra said the restart of Duane Arnold will be a “highly capital-intensive process.” It disclosed in its filing to FERC that it plans on spending as much as $100 million in 2025 alone on the project.

NextEra has placed orders for new transformers to replace the ones that were removed when the plant was shut down, although the transformers face significant supply chain constraints and will take about three years to deliver. The plant’s cooling towers, administration building and training center were also dismantled and need to be replaced.

The nuclear industry has a long history of projects delays, Goldfinger cautioned, and the Duane Arnold restart could take longer than expected if the transformers, for example, are delivered late.

While there are risks, Duane Arnold represents a financial opportunity for NextEra, the parent company of Florida Power & Light. The stock has barely moved this year despite growing power demand, a sharp reversal from 2024 when shares jumped 18% Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump’s repeated attacks on renewable energy have shaken investor confidence in solar and wind power.

Solar and wind projects will no longer be eligible for two key tax credits after 2027, which is expected to crimp demand for renewables. Duane Arnold restarting in 2028 could help offset some of the lost earnings from the phase out of the tax credits, Ketchum said on the July earnings call.

“You add Duane Arnold to the mix and that’s one of many ways that we have to continue to grow the business in the future,” Ketchum said.

Environment

Labor Day Green Deals hub – EVs, power stations, tools, appliances, more from $38

Published

5 hours ago

September 1, 2025

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Labor Day Green Deals hub - EVs, power stations, tools, appliances, more from

It’s officially Labor Day and we’ve had an exciting few weeks of solid Green Deals leading up to the holiday – and these sales aren’t over yet! Through the rest of the day and further into the week, you’ll find some amazing opportunities to get discounts on EVs, power stations, tools, appliances, and more – and we’ve rounded up all the deals that are still ongoing into this one-stop shopping hub for you. One thing to note, the power station sales may have been deemed as ending before today’s arrival; however, as is often the case, these sales have been extended and/or had their official names changed, so be sure to browse through those for hangover savings. Head below to browse and take advantage of all these ongoing Labor Day savings before they’re gone.

Lectric’s ONE long-range belt-drive commuter e-bike gets $220 bundle and $500 price cut to new $1,899 low in Labor Day sale
Lectric launches upgraded XP Trike2 750 long-range eTrike for preorder with a $493 bundle at $1,799, more
Lectric’s new XP4 750 folding utility e-bikes get biggest bundle of $404 in free gear at $1,299 in Labor Day Sale
Head off-road with $434 in free gear on Lectric’s XPeak2 long-range e-bike at $1,699 for Labor Day
Autel’s newest and most powerful MaxiCharger AC Pro 80A level 2 EV charger drops back to $899 low (Reg. $1,299), more
Prime members can score Schumacher’s new 12A level 1 portable EV charger at a new $116 low (Reg. $160)
Rad Power’s Labor Day Sale takes up to $600 off three legacy e-bikes starting from $999 + 25% accessory discounts
Rad Power officially drops prices on Radster Trail and Road e-bikes back to all-time lows w/ hundreds in savings
Celebrate National Dog Day with these Rad Power pet-focused add-on accessory deals starting from $21.75
Aventon’s final summer sale gives the new Abound SR smart cargo e-bike its first discount to $1,799, more from $999
Aventon slashes $200 off new Soltera 2.5 lightweight commuter e-bike for first time, now $999
Aventon cuts the price further on its Aventure 2 all-terrain e-bikes to best price of 2025 at $1,499 (Reg. $1,999)
Ride1Up’s Labor Day Sale offers first savings on new VORSA modular multi-use e-bike with Apple Find My and more at $1,595
Velotric Labor Day Sale drops lightweight T1 ST urban commuter e-bike to $1,299 with free gear (Reg. $1,649), more from $899
Bundle Velotric’s new Fold 1 Plus or Nomad 2X smart e-bikes with EcoFlow power stations at up to $370 off, more from $899
Clock out and ride with up to 45% discounts on Segway’s electric kickscooters starting from $150
Head to classes on Navee’s ST3 Pro e-scooter with free carbon fiber bag starting from $684 in latest sale (Reg. $950), more
Navee’s latest 47-mile travelling GT3 Max electric scooter gets further price cuts to new $561 low (Reg. $750)
Commute on streets and dirt alike with Tenways’ AGO X e-bike that gets $307 in free gear at its $1,899 low (Reg. $2,499), more
Segway’s new entry-level Ninebot E2 Plus II eKickScooter with a 16-mile range drops to $300 in latest sale (Save up to $100)
Aventon’s new security-packed Pace 4 smart step-through cruiser e-bike gets second-ever discount to $1,699 low
Heybike’s Labor Day Sale offers free extra battery with its Mars 2.0 folding e-bike at $1,199 (Save $649), more from $999
Hop on Electric Bike Co.’s Model J e-bike with a $321 bundle at $1,649 for Labor Day ($2,170 value)
Save $500 on Luckeep’s C23 folding step-through e-bike with a removable passenger seat at a new $499 low

ecoflow labor day sale promo pic with man using grinder by power stations

EcoFlow’s Labor Day Sale takes up to 62% off power stations with free gifts, bonus savings, and more starting from $90
Save up to 62% on EcoFlow’s three power station bundles and dual solar panel deal starting from $479 in Labor Day flash sale
Save up to 47% on EcoFlow’s new RAPID series of 10,000mAh to 27,650mAh power banks starting from $86
Bundle Velotric’s new Fold 1 Plus or Nomad 2X smart e-bikes with EcoFlow power stations at up to $370 off, more from $899
EcoFlow’s RIVER 2 Pro 768Wh LiFePO4 power station tackles personal backup support at $359 (Reg. up to $599)
Get off-grid support with EcoFlow’s DELTA 2 solar generator bundle with a 220W panel at $699 (Reg. $1,299)
EcoFlow undercuts its own 48-hour flash sale pricing on the DELTA 2 Max 400W solar bundle at $1,349 (Reg. Up to $3,098)
Save up to 61% on Anker SOLIX power stations and solar bundles during its Labor Day Sale – deals start from $120
Anker SOLIX introduces new C1000 Gen 2 power station with faster-charging tech and increased output [Deal]
Jackery’s Labor Day Sale offers up to 50% off on power stations and more with bonus 5% and 7% savings starting from $89
Keep devices and appliances running with Bluetti’s Elite 200 V2 200W solar bundle at $1,199 (Reg. $1,999)
Mango’s monstrous Power E 3,500Wh CATL station gets an exclusive $2,900 price cut to returning $899 low
Bring DJI’s Power 1000 or 2000 power stations on outdoor adventures starting from $499 (Reg. $699+)
Rare chance to grab EGO’s Nexus portable power station with two 7.5Ah batteries at $899 (Reg. $1,099)