The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is taking a bold step into the future of automotive technology. Earlier this month, SMUD formally opened a solar-powered hydrogen fueling station for Fuel-Cell Electric Vehicles.

The station is part of a joint SMUD, BP, Ford and U.S. Department of Energy project to demonstrate FCEVs and generation of hydrogen from renewable sources. The station produces hydrogen onsite using power from the sun produced by a large solar panel array. The hydrogen will be used to fuel SMUD FCEVs and other hydrogen-powered vehicles in the region. The project is the next step in a nearly two-decade-long effort by SMUD to improve local air quality by advancing alternative-fuel clean transportation, as well as cleaner power sources.

The solar array that powers the production of hydrogen at the station produces 80 kilowatts of electricity. This is equivalent to powering about 40 single-family homes or enough hydrogen for about 14 fuel-cell vehicles. The station is located just west of the SMUD Headquarters building on S Street and is visible from Highway 50.

As the solar panels make electricity, an electrolyzer at the station will use that energy to separate water into hydrogen to make clean fuel for the vehicles. The amount of hydrogen produced at the site will be kept low for safety considerations.

The project brings together two clean technologies where SMUD has been a leader and a pioneer: solar power and electric transportation. In the 1980s, SMUD built the first large utility-scale solar array and has since provided solar power options for individual customers. For nearly 20 years, SMUD has been testing numerous clean, alternative-fuel vehicles, mostly electrics, in an effort to help manufacturers bring those vehicles to the market. In fact, the site where the station is located once boasted a smaller photovoltaic array that SMUD installed in the early 1990s to support SMUD’s then fleet of battery electric vehicles. SMUD still operates many battery electric vehicles dispersed throughout the SMUD campus.

One of the core values of the SMUD Board of Directors is environmental protection, which is why, for nearly 20 years, the electric utility has been at the forefront of testing and adapting alternative-fuel vehicles to district business. In addition to the fuel-cell vehicles, SMUD is also testing battery electric vehicles and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle that gets 100 miles per gallon. SMUD also uses numerous conventional hybrid vehicles as well as several flex-fuel vehicles that can use ethanol fuel or gasoline.

For more information about SMUD’s solar-powered hydrogen vehicle fueling station and the use of alternative-fuel vehicles, visit smud.org.