Green Hydrogen Powered Forklifts in Industrial Transport: Case Study of an Italian Fruit and Vegetable Market

Abstract

In a scenario where there is a tendency to continuous processes to reduce dependence on carbon energy, hydrogen is an emerging, efficient, and highly sustainable choice. In particular, in the field of application, the fuel cell is among the most promising technologies, protagonist, in recent years, of technological advances such as to make it an absolutely valid choice for the production of clean energy. This study lays the basis for a new concept of sustainable industry proposing an energy solution interacting between solar production and equipment for the handling of materials powered by fuel cells. In this context, the main objectives are related to the reduction of CO2 emissions, to limit downtime and pursue a streamlining of the management and distribution of goods within a fruit and vegetable market in southern Italy. The proposed method consists in the installation of a photovoltaic system to cover the energy needs, including the electricity demand for the use of forklifts powered using green hydrogen. This investment is closely linked to a smart management of the industrial sector, able to offer different advantages over the use of other technologies in terms of energy and environmental sustainability and safety. The proposed configuration has a 454.3 kWp photovoltaic system divided into 59 sub-installations of 7.7 kWp each, each of them is capable to produce enough energy for the production of green hydrogen need to fuel a forklift for an entire year.