Japan's TANAKA Precious Metal Technologies has commissioned one of the country's largest 500 kW pure hydrogen fuel-cell power plants at its Shonan site in Hiratsuka, using five Toshiba H2Rex modules in a landmark commercial deployment of the platform.
500 kW H2 Nexus, 34% Of Onsite Load, Zero CO2
The TANAKA H2 Nexus facility went into service on July 8, 2026 and is designed to supply roughly 34% of the Shonan Plant's electricity at full capacity with 95% overall efficiency and an 80,000-hour operating life. Because H2Rex runs on pure hydrogen, water is the only by-product — no CO2 or nitrogen oxides — and the system can operate independently during grid outages. The launch ceremony was attended by representatives of Hiratsuka, Kawasaki and Kanagawa Prefecture alongside Toshiba and FC-Cubic partners.
Toshiba's H2Rex Enters Commercial Scale
The plant is one of the first commercial deployments of the H2Rex system to graduate from Ministry of the Environment technology-testing programs into standing industrial service. Each 100 kW Toshiba H2Rex unit is designed to interconnect, forming higher-capacity clusters like TANAKA's 500 kW installation. Toshiba has previously deployed H2Rex at Toyota's Honsha plant, the Michi-no-Eki Namie roadside station in Fukushima and the Harumi Flag Olympic village site.
A Materials Supplier Becomes A Hydrogen User
TANAKA is one of the world's leading suppliers of platinum-group metal catalysts for fuel-cell electrodes and water-electrolysis systems. Group CEO Koichiro Tanaka framed the site as "demonstrating hydrogen technology through real-world applications", and COO Tomoyuki Tada said the plant marks TANAKA's transition from developer of hydrogen technologies to active operator. The move parallels a broader wave of hydrogen deployments this month, from the 300 MW PowerCell-ECL-Bosch AI datacenter deal to Toyota's 40-truck hydrogen Class 8 fleet planned for Southern California logistics.
Reporting based on coverage from Fuel Cells Works, Japan Industry News, TANAKA press office, Renewable Energy Magazine and Toshiba news releases.