Southeast Asia, one of the world’s fastest growing regions, the need for green energy has never been clearer than in recent years. This means more than just the generation of energy true decarbonization is achieved by going green from generation, storage, distribution, smart usage to management. First, green hydrogen. This is a form of hydrogen that is produced without emitting any carbon because it is created with renewable sources such as solar or geothermal. It can be used to generate electricity when needed and also stored and distributed in a way that reduces the uncertainty of renewable energy. The green process is helped by the falling prices of renewable electricity, particularly from solar and wind, which can be used to generate hydrogen. This can then be released to generate electricity that is delivered to homes, offices and factories.
Green hydrogen trials have been run in Southeast Asia in recent years. In 2019, SP Group successfully established the first zero-emission building in the region that is powered by green hydrogen. It used Toshiba’s pure hydrogen fuel cell system, a hydrogen-based autonomous energy supply system that produces hydrogen and stores the fuel for producing electricity later with its Fuel Cell technology. The system uses a special metal alloy as a storage medium to bond with hydrogen, allowing for the storage of a large volume of hydrogen at a much lower pressure over a long period of time without any deterioration. When electricity is needed, the stored hydrogen is released slowly and regulated, making it safer and more compact to be stored and managed. Besides Singapore, the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines are working with Toshiba to provide green hydrogen as an off-grid energy source to power their remote islands. Using AI and IoT, this system can better predict demand and supply. It can match them catering to the peak and troughs of a usage cycle and reducing waste. With the data on hand, consumers can also smartly manage their energy use. They can gain credits when they agree to a request to scale down their usage. With a strong forged by more than 140 years of experience, together with partners, are confident to making progress and delivering holistic and sustainable solutions to most pressing challenges.