Hydrogen Fueling Stations Open in South Carolina

Why build a hydrogen fueling station if there are no hydrogen-powered vehicles? But how can there be any hydrogen-powered vehicles if there are no fueling stations? That chicken-or-the-egg dilemma is starting to be solved in South Carolina, now that the state has two hydrogen fueling stations. Ribbon-cutting ceremonies officially opened the two in Aiken and Columbia Monday, creating the "South Carolina Hydrogen Freeway."

For years, South Carolina has been positioning itself as a leader in hydrogen fuel cell research. Endowed chairs at the University of South Carolina have attracted top researchers, there's The Center for Hydrogen Research in Aiken and the International Center for Automotive Research (ICAR) at Clemson.

Because of the state's commitment, Columbia is hosting this week the National Hydrogen Conference, which will bring more than 1,000 researchers, entrepreneurs and others to the state to talk about hydrogen research and the future.

Speaker of the South Carolina House Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, helped cut the ribbon on the fueling station in Aiken and then drove a hydrogen-powered truck to Columbia to help cut the ribbon on that station. He says, "When we build more hydrogen fueling stations in South Carolina and throughout the rest of the country and we give our country the ability to get off of foreign oil and on to a next energy source, the biggest benefit of that is we'll stop sending money to people who don't like us very much and want to hurt us."

He says the secondary benefit, which is even more important to the thousands of South Carolinians out of work, is that being a hub of hydrogen research and development will create jobs and spur the state's economy. "We will be the place that led the charge on getting us off of fossil fuels and onto a next energy source, hydrogen being that next energy source. That'll be huge for companies wanting to come here to do research, for companies wanting to come here to do production for everything related to this industry," he says.

But all of that is down the road. Right now, the only definite user of the Columbia hydrogen fueling station is a new hydrogen-powered bus that will be used by the City of Columbia. It was built from the ground up to run on hydrogen, rather than modifying a diesel-powered bus to run on hydrogen. Because it runs on hydrogen fuel cells, which produce electricity, the bus is almost completely quiet. It also produces no exhaust. The only emission from hydrogen fuel cells is water vapor.

The National Hydrogen Conference has several hydrogen fuel cell cars on display, and will have a "Ride 'n' Drive" open to the public Wednesday, April 1 from 10:30-2:30.