The 1.11 megawatt fuel cell uses the same technology which will power Toyota’s forthcoming hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle, due to launch next year, and during the summer peak can supply half the power needed by the six buildings at Toyota Motor Sales HQ site.

Claimed to be the first stationary power generator to use a hydrogen fuel cell, the electricity produced is enough to power 765 average American homes and twice that of the solar panel array which is also on-site.

It uses a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen, via a catalyst, to produce electricity with water vapour as its only by-product. The hydrogen is produced off-site and supplied via the same pipeline connected to the site’s vehicle filling stations.

Mark Yamamuchi, who manages the site's sustainable strategy programme, said: ‘Most other fuel cell technologies need to run continuously to generate baseload power. This project is unique in that we are leveraging the characteristics of the PEM technology to load-follow.’