SoCalGas unveils innovative hydrogen refueling system for SunLine buses
Representative with SoCalGas, SunLine Transit Agency, and STARS Technology Corporation were on hand in Thousand Palms today to unveil an innovative hydrogen generation system. The STARS-H2 project will produce hydrogen from renewable natural gas (RNG) to help fuel SunLine’s hydrogen fuel cell electric buses.
At scale, this demonstration project has the potential to provide clean hydrogen at any location adjacent to a natural gas pipeline, which will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate California's climate and clean air goals, according to a statement from SoCalGas.
"This is groundbreaking technology, nowhere else in the world, that can produce hydrogen in a small footprint with natural gas, low emissions, and bring down the price of hydrogen so that it can be further commercialized," according to Lauren Skiver, General Manager of SunLine Transit Agency.
Sunline plans to build a truck plaza and eventually make hydrogen fuel accessible to more vehicles.
“We plan on selling hydrogen to the trucking community that goes up and down our I-10 corridor everyday. We want to see those trucks clean the air. We want to see that the air quality for the Coachella Valley residents living near this corridor is improved, and we hope that truck plaza is one way to do that,” said Skiver.
The project is part of a larger plan that goes beyond Sunline's mission to provide clean and sustainable transportation.
"California, overall, has an ambition to decarbonize transportation. That includes small cars, trucks, but also things like transit, large duty trucks, and a lot of that ultimately is probably going to be done using hydrogen," said Neil Navin, Vice President of Clean Energy Innovations at SoCalGas.
Bob Wegeng, the Founder/President and Chief Technology Officer of STARS and U.S. Representative Raul Ruiz were among the speakers at today's event.
"Sunline Transit was able to acquire $15 million from the infrastructure law that I advocated for and it's putting the Coachella Valley on the map nationwide as one of the most clean energy transit agencies," according to Congressman Ruiz.
