The Environment & Ecology Bureau said that the Inter-departmental Working Group on Using Hydrogen as Fuel, led by the bureau, has given agreement-in-principle to four more applications of trial projects on hydrogen fuel technology at its meeting on November 29.
 
The first project entails an application submitted by Sinopec (Hong Kong) involving the production of hydrogen with solar energy at the restored Pillar Point Valley Landfill in Tuen Mun.

The second one is an application jointly submitted by the companies involving China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong) to try out a 19-seater hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) minibus and a 55-seater HFC coach for providing shuttle service commuting the construction site for workers, and three HFC forklift trucks to be used at the construction site.
 
The third project concerns an application jointly submitted by Kingroad Logistics, Allenbus Automotive Technology Co. and Hong Kong Hydrogen Fuel Cell Company to try out an HFC medium goods vehicle for cross-boundary transport.

The fourth one pertains to an application submitted by Sinopec (Hong Kong) to test out an HFC light goods vehicle for transport application at its oil terminal in Tsing Yi.
 
The bureau pointed out that to date, the working group has given agreement-in-principle in stages to a total of 18 applications of hydrogen energy trial projects.
 
Among them, Citybus's HFC double-decker bus has already commenced daily passenger service across the city.
 
What’s more, Sinopec (Hong Kong) completed the construction of Hong Kong's first public hydrogen refuelling station at Au Tau, Yuen Long last month. Expected to commence operations in about two months' time, the station could supply hydrogen to the three HFC street-cleaning vehicles that are about to launch their trial.
 
Separately, the Electrical & Mechanical Services Department is now working with the Department of Justice on the amendments to the Gas Safety Ordinance to include safe regulation on hydrogen fuel and it is targeted to introduce a bill into the Legislative Council next year.
 
The bureau emphasised that it is also actively facilitating training for professionals in hydrogen technology and is currently discussing with the Vocational Training Council and suppliers of hydrogen fuel systems to establish relevant safety training courses for practitioners in the hydrogen fuel trade.