KUCHING: The hydrogen production plant and refuelling station which supplied hydrogen for three hydrogen-fuelled buses on a pilot run here have been temporarily closed due to contamination.
Sarawak Energy group CEO Sharbini Suhaili, in a statement today, said contaminant liquid had been detected during the plant’s performance test and the station was now temporarily offline.
He did not say when this occurred.
He said a team of experts from Linde EOX Sdn Bhd, which was selected as the technology partner and system integrator for the pilot project, was working closely with Sarawak Energy to address the issue.
The facility is still under warranty by Linde EOX Sdn Bhd, she said.
The three hydrogen buses underwent trial runs in the city in August and they were slated to take to the streets to fully service the public on Sept 15. However, this did not happen.
Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg had launched Southeast Asia’s first integrated hydrogen production plant, refuelling station and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles at Sarawak Energy here in May.
He said the state was also looking into setting up more hydrogen plants, adding that it is a cleaner form of energy which Sarawak can easily produce due to its supply of adequate water from which hydrogen can be extracted.
It was reported then that the new plant will be able to produce 130kg of hydrogen daily at a purity of 99.9%, as well as support and refuel up to five fuel cell buses and 10 fuel cell cars per day.
