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Hydrogen fuelled zero emissions garbage trucks for Moreland

August 6, 2017 at 3:34 am John Englart 1 comment

Moreland Council has invested in changing it’s fleet of diesel garbage trucks to zero emissions, which will reduce heavy vehicle fleet carbon emissions, pollution, noise, and reduce fuel costs in the long term.

The plan is to use electric heavy vehicle garbage trucks powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen will be generated by solar PV at the Hadfield depot, and by wind power purchased through the electricity grid, hence the hydrogen fuel cells will be renewables powered.

Moreland Council have entered into partnership with hydrogen technology company H2U and vehicle manufacturer CNH Industrial to deliver the pilot project. This pilot project is one of the first in the world using hydrogen fuel cells in a heavy vehicle fleet.

The project involves building a hydrogen generation and fuelling station at Moreland Council’s Hadfield Depot. A 1.2MW array of solar PV will be built for the project. Water used in electrolysis to generate the hydrogen and oxygen will be stored rainwater harvested off roofs. While the hydrogen will be utilised for the fuel cells, the oxygen will be released into the atmosphere.

This is a substantial investment by the Council, with total cost estimated at $9.37 million. The project will generate new jobs in the hydrogen economy. The Council has already allocated $1.5 million over the next three years, with another $1 million coming from the state government. Further funding is being sought by the project partners from ARENA and a low interst loan from the CEFC.

The project has been some two years in the planning by Council officers, with another three years for implementation.

It is envisaged that 12 of the council’s 18 trucks will be zero-emissions by early 2020. Although Council staffing will not change with the transition, the Victorian Government estimated the project would create 15 jobs in construction of the prototype, and potentially more than 100 indirect jobs in fuel cell component manufacturing.

As the first renewables generated hydrogen refuelling site in Australia, Moreland City Council and H2U will establish an education centre at the Hadfield site, to create learning experiences for primary school, high school, and university students.

State Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said, “We’re investing in new energy technology to reduce greenhouse emissions and create jobs. The station will initially power the council’s waste collection vehicles, with the long-term aim of including its entire heavy fleet.”

“It’s a fantastic example of how the New Energy Jobs Fund is creating jobs and boosting renewable energy capabilities across Victoria.”

Once the pilot is complete with the fuelling station and garbage trucks converted to Fuel Cell Electric vehicles, fuel cells can be rolled out to the rest of Council’s heavy vehicle fleet.

It is expected other councils around Australia will eagerly watch the rollout to assess whether to also transition their heavy vehicle fleet to hydrogen fuel cells.

Moreland Council is also moving it’s light vehicle fleet to Electric Vehicles.

At events such as this launch it is interesting to note who attended. I counted 4 councillors present (out of a possible 11) including the Mayor and 3 Greens Councillors. Sadly, not one of the 3 Labor Councillors turned up.

Federal Labor MP Peter Khalil (Wills) was announced as coming, but seemingly didn’t turn up. The Federal electorate of Wills is a marginal Labor/Greens electorate with a margin of about 5 per cent.

The Victorian Government was represented by the Minister for Energy, Climate and Environment, Lily D’Ambrosio. Lily is doing a great job at state level with driving the energy transition within the limits of the Andrews Labor Government.

None of the state Labor MPs whose electorates cover Moreland municipality were present: Jane Garrett (Brunswick), Lizzie Blandthorn (Pascoe Vale), Frank Maguire (Broadmeadows).

Moreland Council has been carbon neutral (with offsets) since 2012, with continuing moves to reduce the level of offset credits needing to be purchased. The transition of the heavy vehicle fleet from diesel internal combustion engines to hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles will substantially reduce Council’s transport fleet emissions and thus the amount of offset credits required.

Moreland also have a community level target of emissions reduction of 22 per cent by 2020, in the Zero Carbon Evolution (ZCE) strategy. A recent midway review of this strategy found that some aspects were ahead and some were behind in level of progress in meeting the ZCE targets. Read the ZCE strategy.

From the June 2017 Moreland Council meeting Agenda (D17/147096):

the midway review has identified that total progress for the life of ZCE thus far shows that two of the five strategic areas are ahead of target (Strategy 2 – using energy efficiently and Strategy 4 – minimising urban heat island effects), one is slightly behind target (Strategy 5 – activating the community), and two are significantly behind target: Strategy 1 – generating local renewable energy (lead by MEFL); and Strategy 3 – low emissions transport (lead by Council).

Moreland Council at it’s June meeting also decided to progress a plan for a 2040 zero carbon goal for the Moreland community.

Photos from the launch:

Background

Moreland Council Press release 15 May 2017:
World first for Moreland: Zero emissions fleet pilot on the way

Minister for Climate, Energy and Environment Press release 5 August 2017
Building Australia’s First Hydrogen Refuelling Station

Moreland Leader story
Moreland Council works with H2U and CNH Industrial to run waste fleet trucks on hydrogen

ABC News story
Melbourne council to build emissions-free rubbish trucks by 2020

Renew Economy story
Moreland Council launches hydrogen-powered garbage truck scheme

Presentation by Stuart Nesbitt on Moreland Council Transition to Zero Emissions Fleet

Click to access stuart_nesbitt.pdf

Entry filed under: Moreland Council, renewable energy, solar power. Tags: City of Moreland, Emissions, fleet, waste.