FuelCellsWorks

Coventry joins Birmingham and Loughborough Universities in landmark hydrogen infrastructure in the Midlands, UK

LONDON, UK– Air Products’ (NYSE:APD). Today, Coventry University announced its decision to commission an award-winning Series 100 hydrogen fuelling station from leading provider Air Products.

Coventry University’s decision to house a hydrogen fuelling station on campus, makes it part of a cluster of Air Products’ stations dominating the region. Joining the Universities of Birmingham and Loughborough, Coventry adds to the Midlands Hydrogen Ring of fuelling facilities that will form the heart of planned UK hydrogen fuelling infrastructure spanning the country.

Air Products, the world’s largest manufacturer of hydrogen fuelling stations, is expected to install their Series 100 fuelling station at the University in March.   The station will be used as part of the Government’s Technology Strategy Board and Advantage West Midlands funded CABLED project – Coventry and Birmingham Low Emission Vehicle Demonstrators- which will see 110 low carbon vehicles operating between locations.

Ian Williamson, Hydrogen Energy Systems Director at Air Products Europe said:

“We are delighted that Coventry University chose Air Products to install its hydrogen fuelling station and strengthen the Midlands Hydrogen Ring. Creating a link of refuelling points strategically placed around the Midlands is a vital first step as the UK moves closer to a hydrogen economy.  As investment in fuelling infrastructure continues to grow along with car manufacturer’s continued investment in hydrogen vehicle development, a significant reduction in carbon emissions through a hydrogen economy is not too far away.”

John Latham, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Business Development, Coventry University:

“For 25 years Coventry University has supplied the automotive industry with world class graduates, research, training and facilities.  The installation of the Air products hydrogen fuelling station and the provision of hydrogen vehicles from our spin out company, Microcab, underlines the University’s commitment to provide state-of-the-art expertise to the automotive industry. The hydrogen vehicle and fuelling infrastructure is concurrent with the University’s plans for continued significant investment in low emissions related automotive research, education and facilities.”

Welcoming the announcement, Jim Cunningham, MP for Coventry South said:

“This is good news for Coventry University and is yet another example of their commitment to research and development.  This partnership is very exciting. The West Midlands is known throughout the country for its innovation and high skill level.  We need to ensure that we remain at the forefront of research and development by encouraging the development of low carbon infrastructure.”

“The development of the low carbon economy in the West Midlands will also help create new jobs and develop new manufacturing technologies.  This is crucial to helping businesses and families recover from the recession.”

London to create a ‘hydrogen network’ by 2012, under plans unveiled today, in time for the city’s Olympic games.

The plan also aims to encourage a minimum of 150 hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road in London by 2012. These could include cars, vans, taxis, motorbikes, and lorries. Fifty of the vehicles are expected to be operated by the Greater London Authority’s functional bodies – including Transport for London (TfL); the London Development Agency (LDA); the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA); and even the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA).

The London Hydrogen Partnership (LHP) is working across London boroughs on plans to deliver over the next two years at least six refuelling sites to refuel hydrogen-powered vehicles in the capital. One is already being built in east London for the refuelling of hydrogen-fuelled buses that will begin running on the RV1 route later this year.

Hydrogen vehicles emit no pollution from their tailpipes and could deliver huge benefits for cities by improving air quality, cutting carbon emissions and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.

The London Hydrogen Partnership and the Greater London Authority are already working with BAA on a hydrogen feasibility study to explore ways to use hydrogen and fuel cell technologies at Heathrow airport. This study could then act as a model that BAA can use in its other airports.

Kit Malthouse, London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and chair of the LHP said: “By 2012, we want to have hydrogen on the ground, in the capital, propelling vehicles and powering buildings. Once the public can kick the tyres and breath the fresh air again, we will have succesfully kick started a new era in London’s energy future.”

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, added: “Harnessing low-carbon technology is key to solving the pressing issues of energy security, cutting climate change emissions and improving air quality. We are ploughing millions into plans to encourage the widespread uptake of electric vehicles, to boost cycling, to expand the use of hybrid bus technology to make London a more pleasant, less polluted city. The use of hydrogen technology, which emits only water vapour, is an exciting part of our vision for the future.”

In February this year, Kit Malthouse opened the UK’s largest in-house hydrogen fuel cell at TfL’s Palestra building in Southwark. This fuel cell will provide a cheaper, local source of energy for the building, which is also the home of the LDA. By 2012 the LHP wants to see five large-scale fuel cells in London like the one at Palestra, as well as 10 fuel cell back-up systems, which can be used to keep powering essential systems such as computer data centres and lighting in the event of a power cut.

March 25 (Bloomberg) — Ceres Power Holdings Plc, which began trials of its fuel cell products in the U.K. this year, is negotiating further tests in mainland Europe, North America and Asia, Chief Executive Officer Peter Bance said.

The company based in Crawley, England, began production at a factory in Horsham in December and can now make “hundreds into low thousands” of its fuel cells a year, Bance said in an interview. Ceres, which now employs 98, will add in the “low tens” of jobs this year, Finance Director Rex Vevers said.

Ceres Power is working to commercialize by the second half of 2011 a fuel cell that can heat and power homes with less energy than conventional sources. It has agreed to supply products to Centrica Plc’s British Gas unit and Ireland’s Bord Gais Eireann. Trials that began this year in empty homes will be expanded mid-year to occupied homes, once regulatory approval has been granted, Bance said.

“In parallel with the trials, we’re building the sales pipeline to underpin growth from 2011 onwards,” Bance said today. “We’re delivering on today as well as building tomorrow.”

Fuel cells generate heat and electricity using fuel and air, and units can be stacked to provide different amounts of energy. Other companies working on the technology include South Borough, Massachusetts-based Protonex Technology Corp. and Bloom Energy Corp. of Sunnyvale, California, which on Feb. 24 said its fuel cell products can power about 100 typical U.S. homes from a plot the size of a parking space.

Loss Widens

Ceres Power’s first-half loss widened to 5.9 million pounds ($8.8 million) from 3.3 million a year earlier, the company said today in a Regulatory Newswire statement. Shares today fell by 7.5 percent to 137.5 pence as of 12:03 p.m. London time.

Vevers said he expects the company to be profitable by the end of 2015, when a four-year contract to supply at least 37,500 units to British Gas ends. Two million pounds ($3 million) in “milestone” payments from British Gas will likely be received next year, he said.

Because field trials of Ceres’ product have been delayed, there’s also a risk commercial rollout will take place later than expected, analyst KBC Peel Hunt said today. He has a “hold” recommendation on the stock.

“We are not convinced that mass manufacture of a fully tested, final product beginning in the second half of fiscal 2011 for delivery to the open market is credible,” KBC analyst Andrew Shepherd-Barron wrote in a note to investors.

Fuel Cell Boilers

In September, Ceres said Daalderop BV, a boiler maker based in Tiel, the Netherlands, would make the condensing boilers that house the company’s fuel cells.

Bance said Ceres is in “active dialogue” about holding trials in North America, Europe and Asia. He declined to provide further details.

“By 2015 we anticipate a significant number of international customers across not just the U.K. but Europe, North America and possibly Asia,” he said.

Feed-in tariffs introduced this year by the U.K. government to spur the installation by homeowners of combined heat and power boilers will help “kickstart” demand for Ceres’ products, Bance said. Vevers said hiring plans for this year are in the “broad range” of the teens and 20s, and that next year, more jobs will be created.

“We currently employ around 98 people,” Vevers said. This year, “that’ll go up to the tune of low 10s. Then, obviously, as we scale up through 2011 to market launch, the jobs growth will be more significant than that.”

Contracts Signed

Ceres on Nov. 6 said it signed an agreement with Bord Gais Eireann to sell 16,000 residential combined heat and power products in Ireland over four years, its first international sales. The company has also moved from testing cells in its own facilities to trials in houses, and has opened its first factory in the past half-year.

“During the last six months, the company has gone through three pretty radical transformations in its growth,” Bance said, referring to the trials, the factory and the Irish deal. “The company is making these critical transitions from small to big.”