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The State, Columbia, S.C., C. Grant Jackson Column: Toyota to Lease Space in Center

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By C. Grant Jackson, The State, Columbia, S.C.

Feb. 14--HYDROGEN RESEARCH

AIKEN -- Toyota Motor Co.'s North American research and development arm will lease about 1,600 square feet of laboratory and support space in Aiken County's new Center for Hydrogen Research.

The Japanese automaker is the first private partner to announce facilities at the center. Toyota initially will house two people there, said James Griffith, vice president of Toyota Technical Center U.S.A.

Toyota will add people as it expands its activity with the Savannah River Site and the national laboratory, Griffith said. The idea is to have a couple of people stationed at the center and have others come in and out as needed, he said.

"Toyota's way of doing things is to start small and build. The expectation is that we will grow as we need to," he said.

Toyota has two contracts with Savannah River in the area of hydrogen storage. The company also has a joint development agreement with USC in a nondisclosed area, Griffith said.

General Motors has announced plans to work with Savannah River National Laboratory researchers. But the U.S. automaker has not said whether it will lease space in the center.

The Center for Hydrogen Research marked its opening Monday with officials from local, state and federal government, academia, and private industry on hand.

The center, believed to be unique, was built to facilitate cooperative research among the Savannah River National Laboratory, universities and industry to develop the products and services for the emerging hydrogen economy.

The Savannah River National Laboratory will have about 40 researchers initially in 16,500 square feet of laboratory space at the center. That number could grow to 50 researchers, said Todd Wright, director of the national lab.

Griffith lauded Aiken County's decision to build the $10 million, 60,000-square-foot center "outside the fence" of top-secret SRS.

Getting national lab scientists and Toyota scientists and engineers together in the center is much easier than at SRS.

"I cannot believe the vision that this county had to do this facility. You don't expect this kind of effort at the county level."

Aiken intends to attract industry to build the products and services of the hydrogen economy, said County Council chairman Ronnie Young. Aiken needs to recapture some of the jobs lost as the former nuclear weapons site downsized.

The center is on the Savannah River Research Campus, land that was donated to Aiken County 10 years ago by Washington Group, the company that operates the Savannah River Site.

"Aiken's investment in the Center for Hydrogen Research is visionary," said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "The hydrogen economy of the future could very well be developed in Aiken."

Clay Sell, U.S. deputy secretary for energy, called the center "a practical symbol of a much larger effort that has the potential to transform our economy."

The president's vision is to get transportation systems off petroleum, Sell said. The way to do that is with fuel cells. A lot of that work can be done in Aiken, he said.

The center was the result of two years of collaboration between Aiken County, SRS and the Department of Energy.

Griffith noted that two years ago, when he first came to USC and Savannah River, he wasn't aware of the "extensive body of knowledge available at those institutions."

"Savannah River National Laboratory is becoming an essential partner in our North American Research to deliver commercially viable hydrogen-powered vehicles for the U.S. and world markets," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The State, Columbia, S.C.

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Source: The State (Columbia, S.C.)

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