The Environment & Ecology Bureau today said that the Inter-departmental Working Group on Using Hydrogen as Fuel has given agreement-in-principle to three more applications of trial projects on hydrogen fuel technology.

The application submitted by Sinopec (Hong Kong) is to try out a hydrogen refuelling station at Au Tau in Yuen Long; the Mass Transit Railway Corporation's application involves conducting a test run with a hydrogen fuelled light rail vehicle (LRV) in Tuen Mun not involved in carrying passengers; while Linde HKO applied to try out the use of a hydrogen tube trailer to deliver hydrogen to a hydrogen fuelled LRV.

The bureau said the working group received these three trial project applications between September and November last year, and has subsequently examined them and provided advice to the applicants.

Following the applicants' enhancement on the designs and technical details to ensure that the trial projects can be carried out smoothly and safely, the working group gave agreement-in-principle to the three applications at its meeting yesterday.

Amongst them, for the hydrogen fuelling station at Au Tau in Yuen Long, planning permission in relation to such use has to be sought from the Town Planning Board.

According to the targets of the applicants, the trial project on the hydrogen refuelling station at Au Tau in Yuen Long, and the two trial projects related to a hydrogen fueled LRV will start in mid-2024 and the second half of 2024 respectively.

Together with the first batch of three applications given agreement-in-principle in March this year, the working group has examined and given agreement-in-principle to a total of six trial projects.

The working group will closely monitor the progress of the various projects, continue to examine other applications and require the applicants to incorporate the working group's comments for enhancing their trial projects.

The bureau added that the working group has also examined the government departments' plans to begin trials of hydrogen fuel cell heavy vehicles for street cleaning next year.

The Government's target is to complete within this year the ongoing consultancy studies on formulation of technical guidelines pertinent to a hydrogen fuel system, a hydrogen refuelling station and quantitative risk assessment.

It also plans to engage a consultant in the third quarter of this year to study the details amending the Gas Safety Ordinance to cover hydrogen fuel and conduct the business impact assessment.