FuelCellsWorks

THOUSAND PALMS, Calif.–BAE Systems plans to develop a zero-emissions bus for a Southern California regional transit agency under a project to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of fuel cell technology. Under a planned work effort, the company will serve as systems integrator to deliver the vehicle to SunLine Transit in an effort funded by the Federal Transit Administration, CALSTART, California Air Resource Board, and California South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The fuel cell bus, which will use no fossil fuel, will demonstrate technology that can reduce dependence on diesel fuel and compressed natural gas. It is scheduled for delivery in December 2011.

“This new-generation fuel cell bus is the result of a true partnership with SunLine Transit Agency, CALSTART, bus manufacturer ElDorado National (California) Inc., Ballard Power Systems, and the Federal Transit Administration, and continues BAE Systems’ ongoing development of environmentally friendly, heavy-duty vehicles,” said Rich Hopf, general manager of vehicle systems for BAE Systems. “We look forward to furthering our work as a systems integrator and showcasing the evolution in technology from partial to zero emissions.”

C. Mikel Oglesby, General Manager, SunLine Transit Agency said, “SunLine is extremely pleased to join in the partnership for the demonstration of the new-generation fuel cell bus that will help to advance the commercialization of this technology in transit operations.”

The bus developed under the program will use a fuel cell module supplied by Ballard Power Systems as the main power plant, combined with BAE Systems propulsion and power management systems to propel a 40-foot transit bus. It will help form the basis for a clean, commercially viable hydrogen-powered transit bus that eliminates fossil fuel-consumption and the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

The new vehicle is based on BAE Systems’ HybriDrive® propulsion system, used by transit agencies across the U.S., Canada and in the UK. The demonstration vehicle will use an advanced lithium-ion-based energy storage system that increases battery life and substantially reduces vehicle weight. The battery system, which will augment the fuel cell, is self-monitoring for easy service and reduced maintenance costs.

BAE Systems is a leading producer of efficient, low-emission hybrid electric propulsion systems for transit buses. HybriDrive propulsion technology has been in daily revenue service on buses in New York and other cities since 1998. More than 2,500 buses use HybriDrive technology to carry more than a million passengers daily.

To date, these buses have traveled more than 150 million miles, saved 10 million gallons of diesel fuel, and prevented more than 100,000 tons of carbon emissions.

About BAE Systems

BAE Systems is a global defense, security, and aerospace company with approximately 107,000 employees worldwide. The company delivers a full range of products and services for air, land, and naval forces, as well as advanced electronics, security, information technology solutions, and customer support services. In 2009, BAE Systems reported sales of £22.4 billion.

Seoul’s World Cup Park Goals Focus on Shift to Alternative Energy

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa.– Air Products (NYSE: APD) today announced it has signed a contract with SK Energy to construct a hydrogen fueling station for a novel energy project to be based in World Cup Park in Seoul, South Korea. The hydrogen fueling station to be onstream in July 2010 will supply hydrogen produced solely from landfill gas to fuel a fleet of vehicles. The project is part of Seoul’s push to use alternative supply means to generate 10 percent of its energy consumption by 2020, and to use hydrogen for 30 percent of the switch.

“This is a very innovative project with high goals, and we are proud to be part of this plan and to work with SK Energy, which is a leading Korean company in hydrogen reforming technology. Seoul should be applauded for its foresight to use this project and World Cup Park’s prominent name and location as a showcase and model for its future energy plans,” said Bob Kelly, business development manager for Hydrogen Energy Systems at Air Products. “Processing a waste stream to make hydrogen for use as an alternative fuel is a direction Air Products, together with its customers, is pursuing to take advantage of underutilized hydrogen sources.” Kelly noted this will be Air Products’ sixth hydrogen fueling station in South Korea.

“We are delighted to be at the forefront of hydrogen fueling technology in Korea and this, the largest station ever installed in Asia, is a result of increased cooperation between the engineering and commercial teams in the U.S. and Korea,” added K S Koh, manager global applications development for Air Products Korea.

Air Products’ compression, storage and dispensing technology will fuel hydrogen powered fuel cell buses for public transit initially, and a small fleet of cars targeted to increase to as many as 100 public use vehicles. World Cup Park is a combination of several small parks adjacent to World Cup Stadium, site of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The location has been selected for several eco-friendly projects including a “zero-energy house” completely powered by solar energy and other environmentally-friendly energies.

Air Products, the leading hydrogen supplier to refineries to assist in making cleaner burning transportation fuels, has placed over 110 hydrogen fueling stations in the United States and 18 countries worldwide. Cars, trucks, vans, buses, scooters, forklifts, locomotives, planes, cell towers, material handling equipment, and even submarines have been fueled with this trend-setting technology that involves Air Products’ know-how, equipment and hydrogen. Use of the company’s technology is increasing and is currently over 175,000 hydrogen fills per year and growing. The company has filled vehicles with its fueling station technology from hydrogen delivered to a site via truck, or produced by on-site natural gas reformation, biomass conversion, or by electrolysis, including electrolysis that is solar and wind driven.

Air Products has more than 50 years of hydrogen experience and is on the forefront of hydrogen energy technology development. Air Products has an extensive patent portfolio with over 50 patents in hydrogen dispensing technology. Air Products provides liquid and gaseous hydrogen, and HCNG (hydrogen/compressed natural gas) fueling, and has developed a variety of enabling devices and protocols for fuel dispensing at varied pressures.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) serves customers in industrial, energy, technology and healthcare markets worldwide with a unique portfolio of atmospheric gases, process and specialty gases, performance materials, and equipment and services. Founded in 1940, Air Products has built leading positions in key growth markets such as semiconductor materials, refinery hydrogen, home healthcare services, natural gas liquefaction, and advanced coatings and adhesives. The company is recognized for its innovative culture, operational excellence and commitment to safety and the environment. In fiscal 2009, Air Products had revenues of $8.3 billion, operations in over 40 countries, and 18,900 employees around the globe. For more information, visit www.airproducts.com.

About SK Energy

Founded in 1962 as Korea’s first oil refiner, SK Energy is one of the world’s leading energy and petrochemical companies with nearly 5,500 employees, $31.3 billion in sales, overseas branch offices and subsidiaries in 19 countries as of the end of year 2009. The company is strategically positioned as Korea’s largest and Asia’s fourth largest refiner with a refining capacity of 1.12 million barrels per day. SK Energy has advanced rapidly as a total energy provider, expanding its business area to New & Renewable Energy technologies like hydrogen, bio-butanol and thin film solar cell for a sustainable growth. Especially in hydrogen area, SK Energy has developed its own hydrogen reforming technology and applied it to a hydrogen fueling station in World Cup Park. SK Energy will grow into a leader in the energy market through continuous technical innovation. For more information, visit www.skenergy.com.

FuelCell Energy’s Direct FuelCell(R) Power Plants Operating on Both Biogas and Natural Gas Qualify Under the New Program

DANBURY, Conn. — FuelCell Energy (Nasdaq:FCEL), a leading manufacturer of high efficiency ultra-clean power plants using renewable and other fuels for commercial, industrial, government and utility customers, today announced the passage of a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) by the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, requiring 4 percent clean energy generation by 2015 and 10 percent by 2022.

Today, only about one percent of Korea’s electricity comes from renewable resources. The program, which will become effective in 2012, will mandate 350 megawatts (MW) of additional renewable energy per year through 2016, and 700 megawatts per year through 2022. Carrying forward, the policy introduced in 2006 under Korea’s feed-in tariff program, the government has elected to designate fuel cells operating on natural gas and biogas as “New and Renewable Energy,” fully qualifying under the new program.

“South Korea recognizes the inherent advantages of fuel cell power generation – clean, low carbon, dependable and reliable – and this week’s announcement solidifies our place in the mandated mix of ultra-clean and renewable energy,” said Ben Toby, Vice President of Global Business Development for FuelCell Energy. “With our successful track record in Korea, and our strong relationship with our partner POSCO Power, we are confident that this new policy will help drive our international market growth. There is no other fuel cell company on the planet with the products that meet Korea’s need for baseload, clean power for grid-support as well as ours.”

Highly efficient, clean and reliable fuel cells operating on widely available natural gas, as well as renewable biogas from wastewater treatment facilities, agricultural waste streams, and food and beverage facilities, will help South Korea achieve these RPS targets. Fuel cells provide baseload power to the grid, which complements and supplements power produced from intermittent sources like wind and solar. Already 24 MW of FuelCell Energy power plants are operating in South Korea. The new RPS law replaces and expands the existing voluntary Renewable Portfolio Agreement (RPA). Over the past three years, FuelCell Energy and its strategic partner POSCO Power have secured customer orders well over 90 percent of the 50 MW voluntary RPA fuel cell target.

FuelCell Energy’s fuel cells are twice as electrically efficient as other distributed generation their size, which means less fuel is used. Because fuel cells produce power electro-chemically, without combustion, they produce near-zero emissions and have proven to be highly reliable since going commercial in 2003 FuelCell Energy currently has 97 megawatts of product installed or in backlog worldwide.

To meet expected demand, further the cost reduction progress, and solidify market leadership, POSCO Power and FuelCell Energy announced a program of manufacturing localization, under which fuel cell stack modules will be manufactured by POSCO Power in Korea from core components manufactured by FuelCell Energy in Connecticut. POSCO Power has already commenced operation of its new balance of plant facility in Pohang, South Korea, and is expected to begin the expanded scope of manufacturing late this year.

Over the next six months, with input from industry, academics, and the general public, experts from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) and the Korean Electro-technology Research Institute (KERI) will finalize implementation details for the new RPS. Considering the mandated requirement for addition of substantial new renewable capacity before 2012, utility companies throughout South Korea are expected to move project development plans into high gear.

About FuelCell Energy

DFC® fuel cells are generating power at over 50 locations worldwide. The Company’s power plants have generated over 450 million kWh of power using a variety of fuels including renewable wastewater gas, biogas from beer and food processing, as well as natural gas and other hydrocarbon fuels. FuelCell Energy has partnerships with major power plant developers and power companies around the world. The Company also receives funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and other government agencies for the development of leading edge technologies such as fuel cells. For more information please visit our website at www.fuelcellenergy.com

Guildford, UK– The Hymera portable power generator from BOC is the first 150W hydrogen fuel-cell powered electricity generator on the market. It is a lightweight, clean and quiet off-grid power supply that is ideal for today’s high-tech, low energy technologies like LED floodlighting and for charging cordless tools on site. It is an environmentally-friendly alternative to conventional diesel or petrol powered generators and marks the start of a new age in off-grid power generation.

Hydrogen fuel cells are almost silent, so they can be used in situations where noise is an issue – for example in residential areas at night. Reducing the exposure of employees to continuous high levels of noise is also an increasingly important concern for many companies.

Because they do not emit any potentially harmful substances (like carbon monoxide and nitrous oxide) the Hymera can be used in places where these types of emissions could become problematic.

The Hymera hydrogen fuel cell generator has a number of advantages over conventional fossil fuel-driven units. Hydrogen fuel cells generate electricity from the reaction of hydrogen with oxygen from the air. Like a battery, a fuel cell employs an electrochemical process that produces no sound and is very efficient. What is more, the only exhaust emissions from a hydrogen fuel cell electric generator are water or water vapour. The Hymera has a fraction of the carbon footprint of a conventional diesel or petrol generator when used to power low-power loads.

The other great advantage of fuel cells is that they can be built to virtually any scale (from a few Watts to a several Megawatts) while still maintaining their very high efficiency.

Petrol and diesel generators (the smallest is just under 1kW) have very poor efficiency at low and part load – less than five percent in some cases. So there is no benefit in using a high efficiency floodlight rather than a conventional tungsten floodlight with a petrol or diesel generator – the fuel consumption per hour would only be reduced by a small amount. While other technologies, such as lighting, computing and visual displays, have made big improvements in efficiency (i.e. they do the same work as before but use much less energy), petrol and diesel generators have not downsized to match the reduced power requirement of many loads.

BOC, a member of The Linde Group, also provides a comprehensive range of solutions for all welding and industrial gas requirements.

BOC
BOC is a member of The Linde Group. An industrial, medical and special gases provider, the company supplies compressed and bulk gases, chemicals and equipment. For more than a century the company’s gases and expertise have contributed to advances in many areas of everyday life, and industries including steelmaking, refining, chemical processing, environmental protection, wastewater treatment, welding and cutting, food processing and distribution, glass production, electronics and health care. For more information visit: www.BOConline.co.uk

The Linde Group
The Linde Group is a world leading gases and engineering company with almost 48,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2009 financial year it achieved sales of EUR 11.2 billion. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards sustainable earnings-based growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. Linde is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development. For more information, see The Linde Group online at http://www.linde.com

LIVERMORE, Calif. — A team led by Sandia National Laboratories made a cameo appearance at the 82^nd Annual Academy Awards® ceremony in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Sandia, The Boeing Company, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Altergy Systems, Multiquip Inc., and others developed a novel mobile lighting system as a clean, efficient alternative to traditional technologies powered by diesel fuel generators. These small, portable lighting systems are used primarily by highway construction crews, airport maintenance personnel, and film crews.

During the night of the Academy Awards® ceremony, the unit provided lighting at an access point utilized by media and production personnel to the famed Red Carpet area, and also provided auxiliary power for a security metal detector. The unit was used in the days leading up to the event for construction of the Red Carpet that leads into the Kodak Theatre.

The new prototype system features a fuel cell running on pure hydrogen, a zero-emission electric power source that is also very quiet. The fuel cell produces electricity for an advanced, power-saving Light Emitting Plasma^TM (LEP) lighting system and additional auxiliary power up to 1.5 kW, which allows some equipment (such as drills, power tools, or security metal detectors) to be powered by the unit at the same time the system is providing illumination. The hydrogen was purchased from Air Products and dispensed from the company’s hydrogen refueling trailer.

By comparison, current mobile lighting uses diesel fuel generators that produce CO₂, NO_x (nitrogen oxides produced during combustion), and soot (particulate matter), making them less than ideal for the environment. In addition, diesel units are noisy and can create a safety hazard when construction personnel are distracted and cannot hear oncoming traffic.

Sandia project lead Lennie Klebanoff estimates that the deployment of a fuel cell-based mobile light unit could reduce diesel fuel consumption by nearly 900 gallons of diesel fuel annually (per unit), while also eliminating the NO_x and soot emissions produced by diesel fuel generators.  If the hydrogen used in the lighting system is generated from non-fossil fuel sources, then the replacement of a single mobile unit would reduce CO₂ emissions by about nine metric tons per year.

Russell Saunders, whose company, Saunders Electric Inc. has been providing temporary power facilities for the Academy Awards since 1953, said working with the mobile fuel cell lighting unit has been a positive experience due to its ease and flexibility. According to Saunders, the fact that the system meets film production sound levels, maintains zero exhaust emissions, and can be used both on both indoor and outdoor film shoots makes it especially appealing for the entertainment industry.

In addition to the fuel cell, another key component of the system is the Light Emitting Plasma^TM (LEP) technology (contributed by Luxim, Lumenworks, and Stray-Light Optical Technologies). Before this technology was introduced, mobile lighting units typically consumed 4.4 kilowatts. The LEP system only consumes about 2.3 kilowatts for the same light output, a reduced power requirement that saves energy and increases the system duration (operational time between refills). Because LEP uses approximately half the energy of standard systems, it further increases the efficiency of the fuel cell-powered system. This makes it a zero-emission electric power source.

The system incorporates two pressurized hydrogen tanks (purchased by Sandia from Structural Composites, Inc.), a trailer with an enclosure that houses the hydrogen tanks and fuel cell (provided by Multiquip), and a 5kW fuel cell (provided and installed by Altergy Systems). Multiquip and Altergy assembled the overall unit, while Sandia oversaw the design and technical plan.

In addition to the film industry, the project has also attracted the interest of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) for airport maintenance work and Caltrans for nighttime highway construction. Unlike the diesel systems that traditionally power mobile lighting units, the fuel cell-powered mobile light can be used indoors. SFO plans on using the technology in its indoor terminal maintenance work.

Boeing provided original seed funding to build the prototype unit, while the Department of Energy is providing funding to support the construction of a unit optimized for the entertainment industry, as well as a third system for SFO’s aviation applications. The unit for SFO will incorporate a more sophisticated, technically ambitious hydrogen storage system that utilizes metal hydride storage tanks designed by Ovonic Hydrogen Systems.

Sandia’s work on a fuel cell-powered mobile lighting system reflects the lab’s long history of exploring basic science for energy and transportation. From developing renewable means of producing hydrogen, to discovering the science behind hydrogen safety, to creating the building blocks of hydrogen and fuel cell systems, Sandia scientists and engineers are actively working to help hydrogen and fuel cells take their place in a sustainable energy future.

Additional funding sources are being sought so that more fuel cell-powered mobile lighting systems can be refined, built and deployed, reducing both diesel consumption and emissions. The ultimate goal is to displace diesel fuel-powered systems altogether.

---

Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With main facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major R&D responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.