THE trial run of Kuching’s hydrogen-powered buses, which could replace the city’s current fleet of diesel buses, has been halted temporarily due to fuel contamination.

Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB), which is undertaking the research and development (R&D) on the hydrogen fuel, confirmed the delay this afternoon after a meeting with Sarawak Transport Minister Lee Kim Shin.

The state’s energy developer and power company confirmed that “contaminant liquid” was detected during a performance test of SEB’s pilot hydrogen production plant and re-fueling station.

“The performance test is a robust process that provides for checks to be conducted to ensure that matters detected are fixed during the warranty period, and also to resolve any teething issues which are not uncommon for R&D projects,” SEB CEO Sharbini Suhaili stated in a statement.

SEB in an earlier statement stated that there was contaminant liquid “observed at the bus receptacle” and the contamination could affect the efficiency of the bus.

The two-in-one production plant and station in the Bintawa industrial estate, which started operation on May 27, is the only facility of its kind in the country.

Sharbini said the station has since been taken temporarily offline while it refers the issue for rectification to the plant’s system and technology integrator, Linde EOX Sdn Bhd.

He said the facility is still under warranty and Linde experts are already on site to try and resolve the issue.

Linde EOX is a subsidiary of Linde Malaysia and the German Linde Group.

The Linde Group is a major global supplier of hydrogen technology solutions with a client base spanning Europe, the US, Japan and Korea.

Lee told The Malaysian Insight that he could not say how long the suspension of the trial could last.

The state transport minister, who took over the newly formed ministry to look into the state’s new urban public transport systems only last month, said Linde experts have yet to determine the cause of the contamination.

He also plans to meet the officials of Sarawak Economic Development Corp (SEDC), which owns the buses.

SEDC bought three Chinese-made hydrogen buses for the trial run which started on September 15.

The buses will provide free service during the trial on popular tourists routes like Abell Road, Jalan Padungan, the Kubah Ria market, the Kuching Waterfront and up to Damai in Santubong.

The SEB hydrogen production plant reportedly can produce 130kg of hydrogen gas per day at a purity of 99.999% and is capable of supporting and fully refueling up to five fuel cell buses and 10 fuel cell cars per day.

SEB had stated it is researching hydrogen’s potential as part of the energy mix of the future. – September 26, 2019.