FuelCellsWorks

Project represents the company’s first hardware to be installed in a major military acquisition program

WALLINGFORD, Conn. — Global hydrogen energy leader Proton Energy Systems has been awarded a contract by Hamilton Sundstrand Corporation, a global designer and manufacturer for aerospace and industrial products, to supply Hamilton Sundstrand key military equipment for the U.S. Navy.

Proton Energy Systems is under contract to deliver electrolysis cell stacks to the company for its Integrated Low Pressure Electrolyzer (ILPE) system. The ILPE produces environmental oxygen for crew consumption on the Navy’s Virginia Class fast attack submarines. The cell stacks are a critical component of the ILPE system, representing the first Proton hardware to be installed in a major U.S. military product.

“Proton Energy has worked with Hamilton Sundstrand to develop a robust stack design that will meet the high reliability demands of the ILPE system, and we’re pleased to work with them in supplying this important capability to the Navy,” said Rob Friedland, president and chief executive officer at Proton Energy Systems. “Our efficient production process ensures we can offer the highest quality products at the lowest cost, and we are proud to be able to offer this outstanding value to our military and commercial partners.”

The first Proton Energy ILPE stack will be delivered in March 2010.

Proton Energy is the world’s leading supplier of onsite hydrogen generators utilizing PEM (proton exchange membrane) technology, which creates high purity hydrogen from de-ionized water and electricity. The ILPE cell stack contract award demonstrates a continued recognition of Proton’s ability to produce high reliability and cost effective cell stacks for one of the most critical electrolyzer application ever fielded.

About Proton Energy Systems

Proton Energy Systems designs and manufactures proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrochemical systems to make hydrogen from water in a zero pollution process producing safe, pure, reliable onsite hydrogen to meet today’s global hydrogen requirements. Proton Energy Systems has been developing and manufacturing world-class electrolysis systems since 1996, with more than 1200 units deployed world-wide, on every continent. With a reputation for building robust, reliable, and safe systems, federal, state, and commercial partners repeatedly seek the creative solutions that Proton Energy Systems has proven it is capable of delivering. For more information, visit www.ProtonEnergy.com .

Ceres Power announces that it has commenced manufacturing operations from the initial production line installed at the Company’s mass manufacturing facility in Horsham.

Following the fit-out of the facility and installation of the key fuel cell manufacturing machines during Q2/Q3 2009 and the commissioning trials of the key production processes during Q3/Q4 2009, initial manufacturing operations have now commenced as planned. The fuel cells being manufactured from the initial production line at the Horsham factory are being produced using the core processes and machines that were tested during the last 12 to 24 months at the Company’s  Crawley-based pilot plant but on a volume capable line. On-going process improvements will be implemented during the course of 2010 to optimise and increase capacity of the initial production line ahead of Gamma field trials and market launch.

The Company is now benefiting from its decision to de-risk the manufacturing scale-up at an early stage, with the lessons learned from the pilot operation being transferred to the initial production line in Horsham. The fuel cells being manufactured in Horsham will be assembled by Ceres Power into fuel cell modules with balance of plant components shipped from the Company’s volume-capable supply chain partners. The complete Combined Heat and Power (CHP) products, consisting of the fuel cell modules produced from Ceres Power’s Horsham plant and boiler assemblies from Daalderop BV will be used for the Beta trials being conducted in customers’ homes during 2010. As manufacturing output continues to scale up during 2010 and beyond, the Company will continue to create skilled ‘green-collar’ jobs in Horsham and across the  Company’s supply chain in the UK and internationally.

Peter Bance, Ceres Power Chief Executive Officer, commented:

“We are building on the successful completion of the Alpha Phase of our residential CHP programme with British Gas and the securing of our first international contract with Bord Gais, and are now investing in our operational capabilities to delivery product in volume. The experience we have gained at the Crawley pilot plant is proving invaluable as we scale-up in our Horsham mass production facility. Commencing initial manufacturing operations at our new factory marks an important step forward for Ceres Power in the commercialisation of our fuel cell technology as we enter our Beta field trials with British Gas.”

10 more Ford FCV

During this darkest of seasons, Icelandic New Energy and Brimborg, Ford retailer in Iceland, have the pleasure of announcing still further steps in demonstrating hydrogen as fuel for transport; hydrogen which is made from water and renewable power from local resources. Ten Ford Focus FCV will be integrated into the traffic in Reykjavik in December 2009. These are all used fuel cell vehicles and the goal of this project step is to further test customer acceptance and endurance of the fuel cell technology. We are happy that this event occurs during the important COP meeting in Copenhagen and remind our readers to look up the common statement of 7 car producers on fuel cell vehicles. Clean solutions need moral support.

Iceland as a test ground

Since 1999 Icelandic New Energy has been acting as a facilitator to integrate hydrogen as fuel into society. Using electro-mobility is a natural extension of the local energy infrastructure, which runs entirely on renewable energy. Using local electricity to substitute for carbonated imported fuel has been a central policy of Icelandic government throughout the twentieth century and may lead to the benchmarking achievement in a country that has been highly dependent on the import of fossil fuels.

Ford recognition of Iceland’s experience, research and skills in handling hydrogen is the key reason for testing the durability and further enhancement of mapping customer acceptance in Iceland. Shell Hydrogen in cooperation with Skeljungur have kept a commercial refueling station running for 6 years, with >98% uptime in the last 2 years. This achievement along with trained researcher and maintenance staff for both vehicles and infrastructure makes Iceland an extremely attractive location for hydrogen and fuel cell testing. Two Ford vehicles have already been in use in Iceland rendering good experience. The addition will make the total hydrogen vehicle fleet the largest one in Europe with 22 H2 vehicles in service in Reykjavik.

The development of fuel cell vehicles has progressed throughout the last decade in tandem with advancements in clean battery technology. In September 2009 seven large car manufacturers jointly announced that several commercial fuel cell vehicles should be available, “in hundreds of thousands of units by 2015”. With this in mind Iceland is still on the track that was laid out in 1999 envisioning the increased market share of alternative vehicles and domestic fuel. The experience from a decade of vehicles’ demonstrations, as well as marine and stationary applications, provides a perfect basis for further societal research and demonstrations. The near term goal of the government is to increase drastically the use of domestic energy in transport not the least in e-mobility. Seeing hydrogen fuel cell and battery development go hand in hand towards commercialization is a beautiful vision. This vision is perfectly in accordance with the goal of replacing fossil fuels, which currently amount to 20% of the energy usage, with renewable energy for all sectors in Iceland.

As before the cars will be rented out to companies in Reykjavik. They are mostly used by staff that need to attend to various business on the move. All of them have number plates thad begin with H2 for example: H2 015. Still the hydrogen station at Grjothals serves these vehicles for fuel.

CERAM HYD S.A. is pleased to announce that it has secured a round A funding commitment that will see the Corporate Venture arm of RWE Innogy the Renewable Energy Division of RWE A.G. take a minority position into the capital of Ceram Hyd.

Topsoe Fuel Cell and hte announce the agreement for hte to deliver tailor-made fuel processing technology.

The contract between the two companies was signed earlier this year and comprises the delivery of a proprietary unit for testing various fuel processing components. An achievement was the short time period of only 5 months for design, construction and assembly of the technology. The unit has recently passed the factory acceptance test in Heidelberg without any complications and has been successfully installed at Topsoe Fuel Cell’s pilot plant in Denmark.

This contract sees an extension to hte’s already successful relationship with the Topsoe Group which began in early 2008. Topsoe Fuel Cell is a subsidiary of Haldor Topsøe, and although the nature of this technology is quite different to that which was delivered to the parent company last year, it further endorses hte’s solid engineering capabilities.

“We are very much looking forward to employing the test station in our fuel processing development for solid oxide fuel cell applications. We have every confidence in hte’s capabilities within the area of complex testing technology due to their extensive engineering experience. We see hte as a reliable partner for Topsoe Fuel Cell” says Jens Ole Gulløv, Technology Demonstration Manager at Topsoe Fuel Cell.

“hte are extremely happy to be working with Topsoe Fuel Cell and see this as a further endorsement of our capabilities. This project will allow hte to further develop and enhance our technology range as well as allowing us to expand our client portfolio once again,” says Dirk Demuth, CEO at hte.

COLONIE — MTI MicroFuel Cells Inc. in Colonie has converted nearly $4 million in loans given to the company to 55.8 million shares of stock.

MTI Micro, a subsidiary of Mechanical Technology Inc., had used the financing to help it in its quest to commercialize its Mobion micro fuel cell for use in handheld electronics.

The largest lender had been board member Walter Robb and his venture capital fund, Counter Point Ventures Fund II LP – with $3 million lent to the company.

As a result of the conversion, Mechanical Technology’s ownership stake in MTI Micro will fall from 97.3 percent to 61.8 percent.

Robb and his fund will end up with more than 40 million shares of MTI Micro.

– Larry Rulison