FuelCellsWorks

India and the UK today announced a joint research plan to develop technologies for fuel cells — power packs that harness hydrogen energy — and pledged to collaborate in space, civilian nuclear, and rural technologies sectors.

British minister for universities and science David Willets and junior science minister Prithviraj Chavan announced a research initiative to encourage scientists from both countries to jointly develop next generation fuel cell technologies.

Both countries hope to invest £3 million (Rs 21 crore) each under the programme that will seek to build partnerships between 15 research groups in the UK and about 20-odd groups in India already studying fuel cells.

A typical fuel cell combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electric current that may be used to drive vehicles, run electric motors, or deliver power.

Although some fuel cells proponents believe the technology has already matured, others argue that costs, raw materials, and infrastructure to sustain the use of such cells still needs to be addressed through more research.

“There’s exceptional scientific research in India and in the UK — if we bring it together, the whole will be greater than the sum of its parts,” Willets said after a meeting with Chavan and the heads of India’s science departments.

“We believe there is a possibility for collaboration in civilian nuclear research and space technology,” Willets said. India has excellent launch vehicles, he said, and the two countries could collaborate to develop satellite technologies.

A senior Indian science and technology official said collaboration in civilian nuclear research and space was discussed as “an opportunity for the future” and there are no concrete proposals for joint research in these areas yet.

The two countries have also decided to invest up to £12 million (Rs 84 crore) on a special programme that will seek to improve the quality of life of rural residents in both countries through technological solutions.

India’s department of biotechnology (DBT) and UK-based Wellcome Trust also announced a five-year programme to support research on healthcare technologies such as diagnostic tools, drugs, and vaccines. Under this programme, the DBT and Wellcome Trust will each contribute £22.5 million to support healthcare research at institutions and industrial partners in India and the UK.

By Eric Betz, ISNS Contributor
Inside Science News Service

WASHINGTON (ISNS) — As the Senate struggles with energy legislation this week, one of the few fixes with bipartisan support is a bill that would invest billions in putting electric-powered cars and trucks on the road. But it’s not clear whether it would be environmentally beneficial to do so. That debate has played out in an open conflict between electric vehicle proponents whose proposals would be implemented in the bill and auto industry executives pushing for funding of alternative technologies.

The measure, as approved by the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, would provide an additional $3.6 billion for electric vehicles if passed by the full Senate and put into effect several proposals in the Electrification Coalition’s roadmap, including $1.5 billion to lower battery costs and help link the vehicles to the electric grid. Also in the bill is $2 billion in funds to put 400,000 electric cars on the road in the next three years and funds to develop specific communities that will rely on electric cars in a few regions throughout the country. It also creates a $10 million prize for the first commercially-viable battery with at least a 500 mile range.

“Republicans and Democrats agree that electrifying our cars and trucks is the single best way to reduce our dependence on oil,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in a recent statement. “Our goal should be to electrify half our cars and trucks within 20 years, which would reduce our dependence on petroleum products by about a third.”  

While nearly every major auto manufacturer in the world plans to debut an electric vehicle in the next two years, scientists are divided on their estimates of the electric car’s impact on the environment. Industry scientists have argued that an electric car is only as clean as the power plant it’s plugged into, while proponents of electrics — including Electrification Coalition member and FedEx CEO Fred Smith — argue they produce less greenhouse gas emissions than a conventional hybrid even when the source is a dirty coal-fired plant.

Conflicting Studies

“Until we significantly alter how we produce electricity in our nation,” Kathryn Clay, director of research at the industry group Auto Alliance said in Senate hearings on the bill, “including upstream emissions in the vehicle greenhouse gas standards will mean that electric vehicles will rate only marginally better than conventional internal combustion engines and comparatively worse than the conventional hybrids we have on the road today.”

A study by the Sloan Automotive Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, funded by Ford, found that electric vehicles plugged into nuclear or renewable sources would result in drastic reductions in emissions; however, vehicles powered by electricity from coal plants would have larger carbon footprints than conventional automobiles. In June hearings on vehicle electrification legislation, the Auto Alliance stated it did not support the bill because it believed the government was unfairly favoring one technology over others. The Alliance represents most major car companies in the world with the exception of Nissan, Honda and Hyundai. Of the group’s member companies, only GM received relatively substantial electric vehicle funds from the Recovery Act.

Auto Alliance members are also worried that emission standards on electric cars will leave auto makers uniquely responsible for upstream emissions from power plants — a source which they have no control over.

“Including upstream emissions creates a huge disincentive for producing electric vehicles versus less costly and less game changing technology,” said Clay.

Many non-industry researchers claim that there is a net drop in greenhouse gas emissions no matter what the power source is. Studies done by the National Resources Defense Council and the Electric Power Research Institute found that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles — even those plugged into a dirty coal-fired plant — would offer dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. And a Tesla Motors analysis found that even when considering the average sources of electricity in the United States, its fully electric Roadster is significantly more efficient than the Toyota Prius or other hybrids.

“Our studies would indicate that plug-in electric vehicles, even if powered by coal power plants that have not been modified to clean up the emissions … produce significantly less CO2 emissions than conventionally powered vehicles,” said Smith.

As an additional benefit, the Electrification Coalition says it would be easier to regulate emissions from a few power plants than the hundreds of millions of cars on the road. And the cars will only become more efficient with time as the grid shifts towards renewable sources of electricity.

EPRI’s report, which the Electric Coalition relies on in its claims, says that previous studies have relied on limited information from the electricity and transportation industries. “We stand by our study with the NRDC, … that was the bellwether study,” said the group’s media relations manager Clay Perry. “We examined all the power sources throughout the country and those went into the study. We had access to a lot of data.”
The administration and many politicians on both sides of the aisle also see the electrification of vehicles as a step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and as a path to recovery for a nation addicted to foreign oil. The United States currently spends $380 billion a year on imported oil – 70-percent of which is used for transportation — and President Obama hopes to reduce that number by increasing the number of electric cars from essentially none, to one million in the next few years. The Recovery Act has already invested more than $5 billion in electric vehicles, with half of that going in loans to Nissan, Tesla and Fisker motor companies.

“This is an enormous national security problem,” said Smith, “we have two shooting wars going on and there’s no question at least in part they were precipitated by our dependence on imported foreign petroleum.”

China, Denmark and Israel are among the countries that have also chosen to focus on electric cars, and that has many concerned China will gain an edge on the U.S. in the market.

A study released in May showed that 60-percent of Chinese citizens would be willing to buy an electric car, five-times the amount of Americans who said they were ready to convert in the same study, and the Chinese have already made significant investments in electric vehicle technology and infrastructure. The country produces 20 million electric scooters a year and plans to shift that infrastructure to cars in coming years in part due to the success of its own trial electric car communities program, which has already nearly doubled in size, growing from 13 to 22 cities.

The Alternative: Fuel Cells

While the United States has shifted its focus from fuel cell vehicles to electrics under the leadership of the current administration, other countries like Japan, Germany and South Korea have ramped up their efforts to produce fuel cell technology.

Fuel cells – which use hydrogen to produce electricity and then release water and heat as by-products – are not widely considered ready for prime-time and a production model car would cost around $1 million. Fuel cell vehicles would also require a non-existent hydrogen fuel infrastructure; whereas the electric infrastructure is already present and needs only work out certain accessibility problems. The Senate believes it has addressed those problems in the current bill and legislators have been quick to point out that most people will charge their vehicles at night during off-peak hours, making it much cheaper.

However, many engineers and policy makers in the United States still argue that fuel cell vehicles provide a better solution to reducing greenhouse gases without being limited by the short range of battery power and say the U.S. will be left behind in the long-term by focusing on electrics. The administration went as far as to cut funding for the technology in its last two annual budgets. These funds were eventually restored in the Senate last year, but the Auto Alliance would like to see the proposed electric vehicles bill include funding for fuel cell research.

 ”Trying to prejudge the market brings tremendous risks, and the problem is compounded if we make just a few large bets,” said Clay.

For the time being, the Senate is showing some agreement with the Obama administration by focusing on battery-electric vehicles in the short term, though it continues to fund fuel cell research as well. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D – N.D.), who co-sponsored the bill, believes fuel cells will be important in the future, but thinks electrification is the solution in the near term.

“Last year the admin cut out $190-million of hydrogen fuel cell research that’s going on, I put it all back in,” said Dorgan. “Hydrogen and fuel cells are important, but that is not the rapid deployment, the near term deployment is electric vehicles.”

Russian physicists from Tomsk (the Institute of High-Current Electronics, Siberian branch of Russian academy of sciences) suggest using some particular features of high-current electron beam for building fuel cells for hydrogen economy.

Protein synthesis is a very complicated process, which is executed at a ribosome, special cell organelle. A hydrogen economy is proposed to solve some of the negative effects of using hydrocarbon fuels where the carbon is released to the atmosphere and is thought to cause various negative effects on climate of our planet. Today hydrogen is used mainly in two ways: first is ammonia production, which later is used as a fertilizer. Second is when hydrogen is used to convert heavy petroleum sources into lighter fractions for further use as fuels.

Employers of the Institute of High-Current Electronics have been performing fundamental studies of how pulse high-current electron beams affected solid surfaces and modified their properties for over twenty years. Such a sustainable interest to these beams can be explained by their very interesting property – electron beams can melt surface of any material. While melting, electron beams change properties of these surfaces; they become less rough and more corrosion-proof. This effect is now widely used in practice – electron beam processing is now an essential part of final smoothing of various metal parts.

Researchers recently discovered promising properties of electron beams in the field of producing solid oxide fuel cells for hydrogen economy. These cells have high efficiency, they are noiseless and have long service life, however, they aren’t widely used due to the lack of economically acceptable production technology.

Fuel cell or fuel element is an electrochemical generator, which transform energy of chemical interaction of hydrogen and oxygen into electric energy. Central part of this element looks like a three-layer sandwich, consisting of anode, electrolyte and cathode. Anode, a positive electrode, is a metal-ceramic plate with porosity reaching 40%, made of a mix of nickel and zirconium oxide granules. Pores in anode provide migration of hydrogen to the border between anode and ceramic electrolyte made of yttrium-stabilized zirconium oxide, which should be impermeable to gas. In order to make operation temperature low, ceramic electrolyte should be as thin as several microns. Researchers suggest using electron beam for this purpose.

Experiments, conducted by Russian physicists, showed that one impulse of an electron beam was enough to melt surface of a metal-ceramic anode to a depth of about 1 micrometer. This is possible under some certain parameters, chosen for the experiment. After processing, porosity of the melted layer became tens of times less than the whole anode plate had. Electrolyte film, applied to a modified anode surface by means of reactive magnetron sputtering, for instance, became almost impermeable to gas, being only 1-2 micrometers thick. Prototypes of fuel cells, made by means of abovementioned technology, showed extremely good operational characteristics.

Sources: Science News

H.C. Starck Ceramics and Kerafol announced their partnership in manufacturing, sales, and distribution of high-temperature SOFCs (solid oxide fuel cells) doped with scandium.

Because the scandium-doped zirconia used in these fuel cells is highly conductive, scandium-doped solid oxide fuel cells have the highest output potential of all electrolyte-supported fuel cells (ESC), and as a result are an essential, key component of innovative fuel cell technology.

H.C. Starck and Kerafol’s alliance creates new potential synergies which complement each other reciprocally, with Kerafol contributing its specialized knowledge of scandium-doped electrolytes and H.C. Starck its expertise in electrode manufacturing to the partnership. The result is the first high-output, scandium-doped cell with its origins in Europe.

In conjunction with the appropriate interconnectors, the new cells make it possible to manufacture SOFC stacks and systems with extraordinary performance and a long service life. Scandium-doped cells are particularly suited for use with interconnectors which contain a high percentage of chromium (CrFe₅Y). The cell, marketed under the product name ESC 10, is available for purchase immediately.

“I am extremely pleased that thanks to H.C. Starck and Kerafol bundling their fuel cell expertise, we were able to develop this new, promising fuel cell product in such a short period of time,” says Dr. Andreas Sieverdingbeck, President of H.C. Starck Ceramics GmbH & Co. KG. “Each company’s range of competencies complements the other perfectly.”

Mr. Franz Koppe, President and Owner of Kerafol – Keramische Folien GmbH says: “The results of our jointly-developed ESC cell were excellent, and as a result we can manufacture cells with significantly improved performance characteristics at market-friendly rates. Together we are strong.”

H.C. Starck has been active in the field of fuel cell technology since 2003. In early 2008, H.C. Starck put two productions lines into operation at its facility in Selb to manufacture solid oxide fuel cells. These lines were especially designed for cells based on anode substrate and electrolyte technology, and have a capacity of approximately 200,000 cells annually.

With its existing state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment which can manufacture products with a width of up to one meter in cleanroom conditions, Kerafol can produce more than one million oxide and non-oxide electrolytes annually. This means that together, the companies not only have the ability to manufacture cells with improved performance characteristics, but will also be able to manufacture the quantities required to meet the increased demand.

Some background information on solid oxide fuel cells: Fuel cells are considered to be a key technology for the future of electricity generation. In an SOFC, a fuel’s chemical energy is directly converted into electrical energy in an electrochemical reaction. This is why fuel cells are more effective than other conventional means of generating electricity. Fuel cell technology is an environmentally-friendly and highly efficient solution for on-site energy or for combined heat and power. Solid oxide fuel cells have the ability to make direct use of a number of different types of fuel (natural gas, hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, biogas, or carbon monoxide). In order to achieve higher voltages, several cells are joined together in a series into what is known as a stack, and this stack forms one electricity-supplying fuel cell unit.

About H.C. Starck
The H.C. Starck Group is a leading global supplier of refractory metals, technical ceramics, and conductive polymers, and serves growing industries such as the electronics, chemicals, automotive, medical technology, aerospace, energy technology, and environmental technology industries, as well as mechanical engineering and tool manufacturers. H.C. Starck has its own manufacturing facilities located in Europe, America, and Asia, and has close to 3,000 employees worldwide.

About Kerafol
Kerafol – Keramische Folien GmbH develops and produces ceramic tapes for a wide range of applications using a special manufacturing process. Ceramic tapes are used in a number of different fields, including microelectronics, thermal management, filtration, sensor technology, porcelain tape, and solid oxide fuel cells. Kerafol has played an active role in the field of solid oxide fuel cells, specifically scandium-doped fuel cells, since development of the technology began in the 1990’s.

By STEPHEN POWER

WASHINGTON — Energy Secretary Steven Chu wants to kill research and development on cars that run on hydrogen fuel cells, but a spending bill approved by the House this month and another scheduled for a Senate vote this week would restore funding for the program.

Mr. Chu has said that hydrogen fuel cells are an impractical technology for vehicles, partly because they would require the creation of a network of hydrogen fueling stations.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s efforts to overhaul federal energy research are encountering resistance in Congress, where lawmakers are moving to give him money for projects that he doesn’t support while withholding funds for others he says are critical. Energy reporter Stephen Power explains.

A Nobel-Prize winning physicist and former director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which conducts federal energy research, Mr. Chu argues that improved internal-combustion engines and plug-in electric vehicles are more realistic technologies for cutting oil consumption over the next 20 to 30 years.

Former President George W. Bush championed the development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, saying they could reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The federal government has spent roughly $1.5 billion since 2001 on hydrogen fuel-cell research.

Among those fighting to keep federally funded hydrogen-vehicle research alive are General Motors Corp., Daimler AG, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. The companies, which are in various stages of developing hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, say the U.S. needs a broad range of technologies to combat climate change.

Some lawmakers fear cuts in hydrogen-car subsidies would translate into job losses at university and corporate labs in their states.

“The department’s made a significant mistake here,” Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.) told Mr. Chu at a recent hearing of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water development. Mr. Dorgan, the panel’s chairman, has steered millions of federal dollars over the past five years to the National Center for Hydrogen Technology at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks.

Read Entire Article Here

Acta S.p.A. (AIM:ACTA), the clean energy products company, is delighted to announce that it has signed an exclusive supply agreement (the “Framework Agreement”) with Girelli Bruni S.p.A., one of Italy’s leading installers of filling station forecourt equipment, for the supply of photovoltaic installations and integrated hydrogen generators for the Italian service station sector. The Company estimates that, based on Girelli Bruni’s current level of annual installations, the Framework Agreement has a potential revenue value to Acta of up to €5 million per annum and is expected to ramp up to this level over the next 12 to 18 months, initially biased towards photovoltaic installations.

Under the Framework Agreement, signed on 19 July 2010, Acta will be the exclusive supplier of photovoltaic installations to Girelli Bruni, which supplies forecourt installations in Italy for major brands such as Agip, Esso, Shell, Total, ERG, Repsol and Auchan. Girelli Bruni will also be the exclusive distributor of Acta’s hydrogen generators for the fuel supply sector in Italy. Based on Acta’s proprietary catalytic and hydrogen conversion technologies, these generators can be safely integrated with the photovoltaic installations to produce clean, dry and compressed hydrogen. Girelli Bruni completed more than 170 forecourt installation projects during 2009, of which the majority also requested the installation of photovoltaic capacity.

The Italian service station sector is currently adapting to the requirements of a regional law, being progressively adopted by each Regional Government of Italy, which requires any new fuel service station to install a minimum quantity of photovoltaic generation capacity and to provide a gaseous fuel alternative to petroleum. The regional law of Tuscany for example, passed in 2005, requires each new service station to install at least 12kW of photovoltaic capacity and the provision of at least one alternative fuel out of methane, LPG or hydrogen. Acta’s agreement with Girelli Bruni will serve as a one-stop solution to fulfilling these regulatory requirements.

In addition, Girelli Bruni will become the exclusive supplier of the collapsible photovoltaic bike shed canopy developed by Acta together with Girelli Bruni and demonstrated in June 2010 at Viareggio as part of Acta’s hydrogen village display. Acta intends to distribute these units, which can refuel hydrogen fuel cell bikes, boats and other applications, via the Company’s low cost hydrogen generator, to local authorities, marinas, and other commercial customers.

Paolo Bert, Chief Executive, commented:

“This agreement will bring Acta’s hydrogen products onto the forecourt and into the automotive sector for the first time. We are delighted that Girelli Bruni has chosen Acta as its exclusive supply partner and the agreement demonstrates the powerful synergies between our photovoltaic and hydrogen generation products and activities. Acta

Ceramic Fuel Cells – a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission power products for homes – has orders for 49 BlueGen units from 14 customers in six countries.

It says this includes an order for 30 units from the Victorian government.

The firm said underlying net operating cash outflow for the June quarter was A$4.7m which was in line with last quarter.

Receipts from customers for the quarter were A$0.4m including initial payments by customers on the signing of orders for BlueGen units.

This does not include the initial payment from the Victorian government which remained conditional upon the finalisation of internal government funding arrangements.

This is expected to be finalised in the September quarter.

The firm said it had cash at 30 June of A$11.5m.

BOTHELL, WA- –  NEAH Power Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: NPWZ), www.neahpower.com, the company developing fuel cell based renewable energy solutions, announced today that it has successfully qualified alternate materials that will help to reduce precious metal content in its fuel cell.

Following the successful demonstration of NEAH Power’s prototype, the company has been evaluating cheaper components and materials. Derek Reiman, NEAH Power’s Director of Manufacturing, said, “We’ve had precious metals reduction in our crosshairs for quite some time. Now that we have a fully operational system, we have turned our focus to improving lifetime and lowering overall product and manufacturing cost. Given the flexibility of our silicon substrate, we are able to use materials and processes that traditional PEM fuel cells cannot. This has allowed NEAH to qualify multiple non-precious metals and significantly reduce our reliance on gold as a current collector.” 

NEAH Power’s President and CEO, Dr. Chris D’Couto, added: “Given the 40 fold increase in surface area we see from using 3D porous silicon, we are already at the front of the pack in terms of power density. This added surface area also gives us more room to work with in terms of efficient catalyst placement. Our goal is to provide a system that can out-compete a battery not only in terms of capability, but also affordability.”

About NEAH Power

NEAH Power Systems, Inc. (OTCBB: NPWZ) is developing long-lasting, efficient and safe power solutions for the military and for portable electronic devices and off the grid power solutions. NEAH uses a unique, patented, silicon-based design for its micro fuel cells that enable higher power densities, lower cost and compact form-factors.

Further company information can be found at http://www.neahpower.com.

VANCOUVER- Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD; NASDAQ: BLDP) today announced the successful completion, during second quarter, of factory testing of a utility-scale distributed generation system using the company’s proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Installation and commissioning of the system for a multi-year demonstration at FirstEnergy Generation Corp’s Eastlake Plant in Ohio is planned for third quarter of this year. FirstEnergy Generation Corp. is a subsidiary of Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE ).

Ballard designed the generator to provide clean energy peaking capacity, which is particularly useful during heavy energy demand periods in the summer months, and tested the generator to a power level of one megawatt. Because fuel cells use hydrogen to produce electricity – with heat and water as by-products – this technology is a more environmentally-friendly means of generating power than diesel or coal alternatives. In addition, the Ballard generator is transportable so it can be relocated to other sites on a seasonal basis.

“We are pleased to have passed this key customer milestone,” said Michael Goldstein, Ballard’s Chief Commercial Officer. “Once commissioned, this will be an important ‘first’ for us, meeting a key 2010 Ballard growth milestone and further demonstrating the benefits of fuel cell systems for clean distributed generation applications in the energy sector.”

It is believed that, when the generator is commissioned and operating at the FirstEnergy Generation Corp. facility, it will be the largest PEM fuel cell generator deployed worldwide.

About Ballard Power Systems 

Ballard Power Systems (TSX: BLD; NASDAQ: BLDP) provides clean energy fuel cell products enabling optimized power systems for a range of applications. To learn more about Ballard, please visit www.ballard.com.

Don’t pour that dirty fat from the frier down the sink – it could be used to make the fuel of the future.

DANBURY, Conn. – FuelCell Energy, Inc. (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 sale of a 300 kilowatt DFC300 fuel cell power plant and five year service contract. LOGANEnergy, a dedicated fuel cell energy services company, will purchase and install the fuel cell power plant at the frozen food processing facility of Carla’s Pasta in South Windsor, CT.

Carla’s Pasta has been providing quality frozen pasta and pesto products for 29 years. Customers of Carla’s Pasta can expect quality, first and foremost, quickly followed by customer service and sales support. As a frozen food processor that is dependent on 24/7 reliable power, the distributed generation aspect of fuel cells was appealing to the owners of Carla’s Pasta. Electrical power is generated at the point of use which provides increased reliability, power quality and energy security.

“We operate our frozen pasta and pesto plant 24 hours per day and were attracted by the fuel cell power plant’s reliability and energy security as it generates power right on our property,” said Sergio Squatrito, Vice President, Operations, Carla’s Pasta. “The high efficiency of the fuel cell power plant decreases our fuel and electrical costs, and lowers our carbon footprint. Our environmental stewardship is further enhanced with the installation of these fuel cells as the energy generation process emits virtually zero harmful pollutants.”

The fuel cell power plant is expected to provide 60 percent of the energy needs of the recently expanded Carla’s Pasta facility. The fuel cell power plant will generate ultra-clean base load electricity and will be configured to recover the byproduct heat from the fuel cell energy conversion process. The byproduct heat will be used for facility heating and heating hot water for the production process and general facility needs. This combined heat and power (CHP) configuration can achieve up to 80% efficiency, which is more than twice as efficient as power delivered via the transmission grid. The power plant is expected to be operational by mid 2011.

Sam Logan, Jr., CEO LOGANEnergy, commented, “We are providing a fully functional turn-key fuel cell power plant for our customer, Carla’s Pasta. Partnering with FuelCell Energy allows us to offer our customers economical power generation that is highly efficient, environmentally friendly and reliable.”

The purchase of this fuel cell power plant was partially funded by a $750,000 grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF). The CCEF, created in 2000 by the Connecticut Legislature, promotes, develops, and invests in clean energy sources for the benefit of Connecticut ratepayers.

“This installation illustrates the success of public and private partnerships that work together to provide reliable clean energy solutions for manufacturing employers based in Connecticut such as Carla’s Pasta,” said Richard Shaw, Director Business Development FuelCell Energy, Inc. “The grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund is another example of the support for fuel cells in the State of Connecticut, helping to move the State to the forefront of clean power generation.”

LOGANEnergy is a dedicated fuel cell energy service company, specializing in designing and developing fuel cell projects. Founded in 1993, LOGANEnergy’s worldwide portfolio exceeds 11 megawatts of fuel cell capacity with more than 150 installations at 100 sites.

About FuelCell Energy

DFC(R) fuel cells are generating power at over 50 locations worldwide. The Company’s power plants have generated over 500 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

COLONIE — Plug Power Inc., the Latham fuel cell manufacturer, said company executives will be attending a ribbon cutting next month to celebrate a new fleet of fuel-cell-powered fork lifts at a United Natural Foods distribution center in Sarasota, Fla.

Plug Power makes hydrogen-powered fuel cells used in fork lifts called GenDrive. The event will be Aug. 4. UNFI, as United Natural Foods is known, is based in Providence, R.I.

ITM Power, the energy storage and clean fuel company, is pleased to announce that the Forestry Commission has signed an agreement to participate in the Hydrogen On Site Trials (HOST) of ITM’s transportable high pressure refueling unit (HFuel) that it is currently being built with support from the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) and partners Gateway to London and Revolve Technologies, as announced in February 2010.

Commencement of HOST will begin in 2011, and will encompass the operation and refueling of two HICE (Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine) Revolve Technologies Ford Transit vehicles with hydrogen produced on site at the point of use, at sites operated by participating companies and in the Gateway to London development area. The Forestry Commission joins DHL Supply Chain and London Stansted Airport who signed agreements to join HOST in June 2010.
Membership of HOST provides each partner with a one week free trial of HFuel and the two Revolve HICE transit vehicles, and an option to lease both HFuel and vehicles for additional week(s). The demonstrations are 100% managed and operated by ITM personnel in liaison with site owners‟ operations and management.
Commenting for ITM Power, CEO Graham Cooley stated “We are delighted that the Forestry Commission, the largest land manager in Britain and the biggest provider of outdoor recreation, has agreed to join ITM‟s HOST programme in order appraise the potential of ITM’s technology to decarbonise forestry vehicles. The Forestry Commission has an important role as a member of the government’s Renewable Energy Deployment and Environmental Issues Project Board.”
“It’s all about producing a clean fuel at the point of use, addressing the important sustainability issue of eliminating the carbon footprint of the fuel supply chain. The HOST trials will play an important role in demonstrating the potential of ITM’s HFuel technology to the land management sector particularly where the supply of fuel is an issue in remote areas. We expect companies from other sectors to be joining the HOST scheme in the near future.”
Jeffrey Livingston, Head of Mechanical Engineering Services at the Forestry Commission stated, “The Forestry Commission is a world leader in the development of sustainable forest management, and we have a policy of constantly exploring ways to reduce the environmental impact of all our activities, including the operation of our vehicle fleet. For example, Mechanical Engineering Services have been ‘greening’ resources through the use of alternative fuels, lubricants, and chemicals, and the potential use of “green‟ hydrogen, a clean fuel derived from water and renewable sources of energy, fits well with this policy and programme.”

On July 24, 2008, a hydrogen plant in Europe – the first to use a metal foil catalyst substrate in place of ceramic pellets – achieved expected performance at startup with minimal correction; reactions were observed to operate at exact equilibrium. The novel catalyst – the Stackable Structural Reactor (SSR) from Catacel Corporation – has, as of today, achieved 17,500 hours problem-free operation; performance remains indistinguishable from new.

The novel catalyst - the Stackable Structural Reactor (SSR®) from Catacel Corporation.

The novel catalyst – the Stackable Structural Reactor (SSR®) from Catacel Corporation.

The SSR is made from a special grade of high temperature steel alloy foil coated with a reforming catalyst. It was designed by Catacel to resolve the deficiencies of traditional catalyst-impregnated ceramic media; namely inefficient heat transfer and degradation of performance due to “crushing to powder” after repeated startup/shutdown cycles.

The 250-m3/hr European hydrogen plant was built to supply a Borcelik steel facility with hydrogen gas for annealer and coating line operations. Upon startup, furnace temperatures registered lower than a comparable older plant operating at the Borcelik location with conventional ceramic media. Performance was again evaluated in April 2009. No discernable change from initial performance was observed. At this time, the old plant was restarted to perform a similar evaluation; furnace temperatures and fuel consumption rates were observed to be considerably higher than the new plant.

While principally anecdotal with respect to confidentiality constructs, the results of the Borcelik installation suggest Catacel’s SSR as a practical alternative to ceramic catalyst media and to lower-cost hydrogen production via:

Improved heat transfer equating to lower furnace temperatures equating to less fuel consumption;

Durable metal foil design with greater catalytic surface area equating to longer life and lesser degradation of catalytic activity during its useful life;

In retrofit plants, improved heat transfer equating to greater throughput yield from existing equipment equating to avoidance of additional capital investment;

In new plants, improved heat transfer and longer life equating to fewer and/or shorter reformer tubes equating to reduced construction cost.

Furthermore, tests conducted in collaboration with the NASA Glenn Research Center (Cleveland, Ohio) have demonstrated 30% heat transfer improvement over ceramic media.

Only a single metal centre is needed to catalyse the reduction of oxygen to produce water, according to researchers in the US.

Daniel Nocera and colleagues at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have shown for the first time that single centre cobalt porphyrins anchored on carbon nanotubes and containing a proton transfer group efficiently catalyse the reduction of oxygen. It could open the door to more efficient fuel cells in the future.

 Reducing oxygen to water is a key reaction involved in releasing stored energy from hydrogen fuel cells which has previously required expensive bimetallic catalysts. Nocera’s porphyrins are more efficient than existing cobalt catalysts and are made easily in two steps, so could invigorate the design of future fuel cells using cobalt over its more costly metal cousins.

Original publication: Robert McGuire Jr., Dilek K Douglas, Thomas S Teets, Jin Suntivich, Yang Shao-Horn and Daniel G Nocera, Chem. Sci., 2010

Intelligent Energy, the global clean power systems company, today announced the appointment of Masataka Yamakawa as General Manager, Sales and Business Development for Japan and Asia. Yamakawa joins having worked for many years at leading Japanese trading firm, Mitsui & Co., where he gained extensive experience in the business development of distributed generation systems.     

Yamakawa’s career in the energy and communication sectors has focused on the business development of fuel cells, PV and renewable energy. He has long been associated with Intelligent Energy’s growth in Asia, having worked alongside the company since 2002, supporting successful partnerships with Japanese companies and now as an Intelligent Energy employee opening a Japanese office in Osaka.  

“Any environmental contributions I can make towards saving our planet is a lifetime ambition of mine and I am delighted to be in a position to pursue such a mission with Intelligent Energy,” explained Yamakawa. “The growing clean technology sector in Japan represents an immensely exciting opportunity for Intelligent Energy to contribute to a cleaner, greener environment and capitalise on the significant commercial opportunities that exist in this market.”

As a rising clean technology “tiger”, Japan aims to generate 20 percent of its electricity by 2020 through the rapidly growing renewable energy sector. The country’s burgeoning clean technology sector should also receive a further boost from global investments in clean technology which are set to rise by 35% this year according to research firm Datamonitor.

“Masataka’s close association with Intelligent Energy in Japan and his extensive business development experience in distributed generation systems makes him the perfect fit for expanding Intelligent Energy’s operations in Japan, ” said Dr Henri Winand, CEO at Intelligent Energy. “Intelligent Energy is currently making some key additions to its global commercial team and the addition of Masataka will further accelerate Intelligent Energy’s plans for global growth.”

About Intelligent Energy
Intelligent Energy is a clean power systems company, with a range of leading fuel cell and hydrogen generation technologies. The company is focused on the provision of cleaner power and low carbon technologies. Intelligent Energy partners with leading companies globally, in the transportation, oil and gas, aerospace, defence, distributed generation and portable power markets. Current partners and customers include Scottish & Southern Energy plc, and The Suzuki Motor Corporation. Intelligent Energy’s successes in recent years include the development of the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell motorbike and supplying the fuel cell system to Boeing which powered the world’s first manned fuel cell aircraft. The company is currently leading a consortium to deliver a fleet of zero-emissions Fuel Cell Hybrid London taxis for introduction in London for 2012.

ka, Japan and Loughborough UK–

Provider of power solutions for the marine and energy industries Wärtsilä has installed a Wärtsilä Fuel Cell (WFC) 20 unit on board the Undine, a car carrier owned by Swedish maritime transport company Wallenius Lines and managed by Wallenius Marine, with the aim of testing a fuel cell in a marine environment.

The Undine, with the WFC 20 unit installed, sailed from the Port of Bremerhaven, in Germany, on May 1. The ship’s destination is the UK and, after stopping in the US and Sweden, will dock on October 31, says Wärtsilä director of fuel cells Erkko Fontell.

The company says that the validation process on the journey will provide feedback and information for the future development of technology for marine environment applications.

The fuel unit will, during the test period, provide auxiliary power to the vessel, while producing almost no emissions. “This project is an important step towards more environment-friendly shipping and cleaner seaborne transportation,” Wärtsilä reports.

Experts are on board the vessel and Wärtsilä have trained Wallenius personnel and its own service personnel to operate the system. The company has also established data transfer between the vessel and a technical team to follow the operation of the unit, says Fontell.

The fuel cell, which has a nominal output of 20 kW, is based on planar solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology and is fuelled by methanol since it can be reformed to a composition suitable for the unit, he adds.

Methanol, a commonly used liquid in the oil and process industries, can be produced from natural gas or from renewable raw materials such as gasifiable biomass.

“The development and validation of the SOFC technology in the marine environment is one of the key outcomes of the project,” he says.
The initiative, which started on November 1, 2006, is the result of a joint project by the Methanol Fuelled Auxiliary Power Unit (Methapu) consortium.

The participants are Finland-based Wärtsilä; Wallenius Marine, of Sweden; independent assurance services company Lloyd’s Register Group, in the UK; risk management company Det Norske Veritas, in Norway; and the University of Genoa, in Italy. All members of this consortium are globally active in fuel cell system integration, sustainable shipping, classification work or environmental assessment, says Fontell.

The principal aim of the Methapu project has been to validate and demon- strate new technologies for global shipping that can reduce the environmental impact of vessels.

A further aim is to establish the necessary international regulations for the use of methanol on board commercial vessels, and to allow the use of methanol as a marine fuel.

Other strategic aims are validating marine-compatible methanol-running SOFC tech- nology and enabling future research activities on larger marine-compatible SOFC units and establishing a methanol-based economy, explains Fontell.

“The development of sustainable sea transportation is a long-term target, to which Wallenius Marine is committed. The Methapu project supports the vision by providing the opportunity to use a new renewable marine fuel. Wärtsilä’s expertise in SOFC technology provides a solid platform from which to gain experience for the future,” says Wallenius Marine president Per Croner.
The estimated cost of this project is €2-million, €1-million of which has been funded by the European Union. The project also is part of the European Community Sixth Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration.

The project, initially planned for completion on April 30, 2009, experienced technical difficulties owing to the fuel cell being developed on a new type of technology, as well as the supply and reforming of the metha- nol, which took up more time than expected, and the project was granted an 18-month extension. The company now expects the project to be completed by October 31, says Fontell.

In addition to methanol, Wärtsilä’s fuel cells can efficiently use various gases as fuel and produce almost no nitrogen oxide, sulphur oxide and particulate emissions harmful to the environment. The fuel cell technology will offer additional benefits to the shipping industry, where international emission regulations are becoming increasingly stringent, the company states.

The International Maritime Organisation and various local authorities define the emission regulations for the marine indus- try. As fuel cell technology provides clean emissions, it will meet any foreseen emission regulations, he believes.

The additional benefits will be efficiency, no noise and no vibra- tions. Fontell also says that, although it has not been proven, there is potential for the techno- logy to lower manufacturing costs, provide good reliability and lower the levels of servicing requirements.
The development of fuel cell technology is a part of Wärtsilä’s long-term product development, aimed at supplementing the company’s product portfolio. The development of environment-friendly and sustainable energy production technologies is an essential part of Wärtsilä’s strategy.

“We want to further develop fuel cell technology and introduce it to the commercial markets in the next few years. We also want to increase the power output of the units, and the next step is a 50-kW power range and later a 250-kW range,” says Fontell.

The Norwegian government is working with the European Commission (EC) to test the potential for hydrogen vehicles in Scandinavia. The EC’s European Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking Program is arranging the delivery of 17 fuel-cell vehicles to drivers in Oslo, Norway. The Norwegian phase of the program’s European Lighthouse Project will use $25 million to show the viability of fuel cell drive systems. These drivers will have access to a hydrogen refueling station created by Danish company H2 Logic.

The European Lighthouse Project will use a total of $1.26 billion by 2014 to coordinate hydrogen infrastructure in Scandinavia, Germany and Denmark. This element of the project is nicknamed H2moves Scandinavia and will feature research collaboration by regional universities. TUV SUD in Germany and SP Technical Research Institute will study the safety, performance and fueling speed of the demonstrator units in the project.

Test drivers in Oslo will be demonstrating ten Mercedes-Benz B-Class F-CELLs, two Alfa Romeo MiTo Fuel Cells and five electric cars equipped with fuel-cell systems by H2 Logic. The B-Class F-CELL achieves up to 71 miles per gallon equivalent with the help of a 100-kW electric motor. The MiTO Fuel Cell runs on a Nuvera fuel-cell system that can travel up to 280 miles without refueling. H2 Logic has developed an electric city car that will feature a fuel-cell range extender for commutes within Oslo.

H2 Logic is benefitting from funds offered by the EC and northern European countries interested in a regional infrastructure. The company has developed a hydrogen refueling station that will draw from regional hydrogen supplies produced by hydroelectric and wind power. The European Lighthouse Project has also commissioned a mobile fueling source from H2 Logic. This portable refueling unit will be used during a 2011 demonstration tour sponsored by the European Regions and Municipalities Partnership and Hydrogen Sweden.

This project is part of the EC’s efforts to create alt-fuel infrastructure that will reduce transportation emissions. H2moves Scandinavia is the inaugural element of the European Lighthouse Project, which means a great deal hinges on the success of this project. The focus on clean energy production along with alternative fuel vehicles is heartening for eco-conscious drivers. Mass adoption of hydrogen, electric and hybrid vehicles means little if we are still reliant on harmful means of creating energy.

Berlin, 23 Jul 2010. The Clean Energy Partnership (CEP) is a nominee for the Clean Tech Media Award 2010 in the Mobility category. This is the third time the Clean Tech Media Award jury has selected pioneers of environmental technology, of whom the best will receive an award on September 16th, 2010.

The CEP is one of 15 candidates shortlisted from a total of 63 applicants for the Clean Tech Media Award. This year’s prizes will be awarded in the following categories: Energy, Communication, Mobility, Lifestyle and Young Scientist. The CEP is up against two others in the Mobility category. An independent jury will decide who wins on 16 September.

The CEP was founded in 2002 with the aim of demonstrating hydrogen’s suitability for daily use as a fuel in vehicles and to test the infrastructure for refuelling the vehicles. Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe BVG, BMW, Daimler, Ford, GM/Opel, Hamburger Hochbahn, Linde, Shell, Statoil, Total, Toyota, Vattenfall Europe and Volkswagen, as well as technology, oil, energy and public transport companies, and the majority of German car manufacturers are participating in the ground-breaking project for the future. Since 2008, the CEP has also received funding from Germany’s National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Programme (NIP).

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Engineers at Oregon State University have made a significant advance toward producing electricity from sewage, by the use of new coatings on the anodes of microbial electrochemical cells that increased the electricity production about 20 times.

The findings, just published online in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, a professional journal, bring the researchers one step closer to technology that could clean biowaste at the same time it produces useful levels of electricity – a promising new innovation in wastewater treatment and renewable energy.

Engineers found that by coating graphite anodes with a nanoparticle layer of gold, the production of electricity increased 20 times. Coatings with palladium produced an increase, but not nearly as much. And the researchers believe nanoparticle coatings of iron – which would be a lot cheaper than gold – could produce electricity increases similar to that of gold, for at least some types of bacteria.

“This is an important step toward our goal,” said Frank Chaplen, an associate professor of biological and ecological engineering. “We still need some improvements in design of the cathode chamber, and a better understanding of the interaction between different microbial species. But the new approach is clearly producing more electricity.”

In this technology, bacteria from biowaste such as sewage are placed in an anode chamber, where they form a biofilm, consume nutrients and grow, in the process releasing electrons. In this context, the sewage is literally the fuel for electricity production.

In related technology, a similar approach may be able to produce hydrogen gas instead of electricity, with the potential to be used in hydrogen fuel cells that may power the automobiles of the future. In either case, the treatment of wastewater could be changed from an energy-consuming technology into one that produces usable energy.

Researchers in the OSU College of Engineering and College of Agricultural Sciences, including Hong Liu, an assistant professor of biological and ecological engineering, are national leaders in development of this technology, which could significantly reduce the cost of wastewater treatment in the United States. It might also find applications in rural areas or developing nations, where the lack of an adequate power supply makes wastewater treatment impractical. It may be possible to create sewage treatment plants that are completely self-sufficient in terms of energy usage.

The technology already works on a laboratory basis, researchers say, but advances are necessary to lower its cost, improve efficiency and electrical output, and identify the lowest cost materials that can be used.

This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute.

“Recent advances in nanofabrication provide a unique opportunity to develop efficient electrode materials due to the remarkable structural, electrical and chemical properties of nanomaterials,” the researchers wrote in their report. “This study demonstrated that nano-decoration can greatly enhance the performance of microbial anodes.”

An Australian energy company treated like a freaky science project at home has won a German government award for the most innovative company to invest in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia this year.

At its new production facility in Heinsberg, Germany, the company, Ceramic Fuel Cells, was producing “a key technology of the future”, said Petra Wassner, managing director of NRW.INVEST, the state’s economic development agency.

The big news is Ceramic’s BlueGen fuel cell device.

Roughly the size of a dishwasher, the device uses solid oxide fuel cell technology to convert natural gas into electricity and heat.

It generally produces more than enough electricity to power the average household — unless it is summer and you’re constantly running the air-conditioner — and enough heat to produce a tank of hot water daily.

The Victorian-based company was praised for investing 9.5 million euros (AU$14.16 million) in the facility, creating 80 new jobs and contributing “to a more efficient and cleaner energy supply in North Rhine-Westphalia”, Wassner told the award ceremony in Dusseldorf earlier this week.

But Ceramic Fuel hasn’t attracted nearly as much excitement in Australia, forcing the company to go global to survive.

“We are really big news here,” Ceramic chief executive Brendan Dow told AAP from Germany.

“[In Australia] we are treated like a science project.

“It’s really quite frustrating.”

In Germany, utility companies supply the device free of charge to households, who then pay for the natural gas they use.

Dow likens the arrangement to a mobile phone contract, where the consumer receives a free hand set and pays for their calls.

“BlueGen is an enabler of the utilities to be able to bill you for heat and power,” he said.

The household can then make back some money by selling any excess power to the grid.

If widely implemented, the system could save governments cash as well, reducing the need for billions of dollars in infrastructure.

That in turn would mean cheaper electricity for consumers, Dow said.

“About two-thirds of your electricity bill is actually due to transmission and distribution costs…[the] cost to the government of actually putting in poles and wires and enough infrastructure to deliver the power from the central power station.”

The other benefit of generating power from your own home is efficiency.

When electricity is generated in central power stations, the power and heat are lost on the way to your home.

Generating electricity at home, means the power and heat are delivered directly, rather than travelling through wires.

And then there’s the environmental benefit. All this cheap and efficient electricity is being produced with less carbon emissions.

If all of Australia’s electricity was produced via BlueGen, Australia would have the world’s lowest carbon emissions, rather than being the world’s worst emitter per unit of electricity, Dow said.

“The current emissions from the Australian grid is a little under one tonne of CO2 for every megawatt hour that’s produced,” he said.

“Our unit produces about 340kg or about one third of the emissions of the current grid.”

Dow says the other strength of BlueGen is reliability, unlike solar or wind power which are subject to uncontrollable factors.

“BlueGen operates all the time, day and night, regardless of wind or wave or sun conditions,” he said.

“Renewables are useful, but they can’t be the only solution.”

A report released last month by the CSIRO, commissioned by Ceramic Fuel Cells, found BlueGen produces “fewer greenhouse emissions than the use of current grid electricity in Victoria and NSW”.

Unlike solar and wind power, BlueGen runs on natural gas, which isn’t renewable, and that’s why the Federal Government hasn’t snapped it up as an answer to climate change.

The answer, according to John Bell from the Queensland University of Technology’s Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, is both renewables and fuel cell technology.

“Fuel cells are a terrific source of energy which is much more efficient in terms of electricity production for the amount of carbon dioxide produced,” Professor Bell said.

The technology is great, but there are two main problems, he said.

“It still does produce CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions, so it’s not going to get us all the way toward our emissions reduction target, and the second issue is it still uses natural gas.

“There is a finite supply of natural gas and it is much less than coal.

“[Fuel cell technology] doesn’t necessarily address the overall long-term energy supply issue.”

But according to Dow, it’s still early days for BlueGen technology, and in the future it will be run on renewable fuels.

“The technology will run on ethanol, it will run on biodiesel,” he said.

In Australia, utility companies are slowly testing the water when it comes to BlueGen.

Energy Australia has had the device installed in its showcase sustainability home in Newington, Sydney, while the Victorian Government and Origin Energy have installed the devices in showcase homes in Melbourne.

These are baby steps compared to the leaps being made in Europe, which is why Ceramic Fuels is operating in Germany.

“Energy prices here [in Germany] reflect the real cost of generating electricity … and the government is supportive so they’ve put in place a feed-in tariff,” Dow said.

The units are available in Australia but will be expensive to purchase.

Utility companies are also not obliged to purchase excess electricity, although the Victorian Government is looking into including the device in its feed-in tariff scheme.

“I’m frustrated as an Aussie that we don’t have more success in Australia,” Dow said.

“Our smallest utility partner here in Germany is bigger than AGL, bigger than Origin.

“The big guys are spending money.”

By Tom McGhee
The Denver Post

American soldiers in the field rely on laptop computers, night-vision glasses, satellite phones and other battery-operated technology, but not without paying a price.

Batteries add more than 25 pounds to the loads they carry, said Andrew Herring, an associate professor of chemical engineering at the Colorado School of Mines.

The school will work on technology to lower the cost of fuel cells to replace those batteries, thanks to a Department of Defense grant announced this week.

“This is a massive deal from a cost point of view and from the point of view of the poor soldier carrying the batteries,” Herring said.

Mines, one of four schools cooperating in the research, will receive $650,000 a year for five years from the total $7.5 million grant. Researchers from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, the University of California at Riverside and the University of Chicago also are involved.

Fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen to make electricity. If the two elements aren’t separated, they burn.

In the hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell, a dividing membrane must conduct protons while acting as an electrical conductor and efficient barrier to the gases on either side, Herring wrote in a paper.

Acid-based separators now in use work well but rely on platinum and other costly metals to act as catalysts, Herring said.

With Mines leading the effort, the universities will research alkali-based films to act as separators utilizing nickel, copper or other metals.

“It is cheaper, and the catalyst works better,” Herring said. “The issue is that no one has figured out how to make a decent membrane that we can afford to give to every soldier.”

The Department of Defense grant is part of $227 million in grants to 70 schools nationwide participating in basic research.

Mines will also receive money for three other projects — research into preventing degradation of naval fuels; improvements to military lasers; and the use of electromagnetic radiation to identify land mines and explosive devices — but will not lead them.

Brunnthal/Munich, Germany–SFC Smart Fuel Cell AG, technology and market leader for mobile and off-grid power solutions based on fuel cells, is changing its company name to SFC Energy AG with immediate effect. The name change reflects the company’s future positioning as a provider of complete systems for off-grid energy supply. The company has consequently evolved its business model within the last years towards comprehensive off-grid power solutions. Fuel cells remain core technology and components of the whole-product solutions.

„Our experience as pioneer in the commercialisation of fuel cells has shown that customers in many fields do not only need a fuel cell but total solution“, says Dr. Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy AG. „With our strategic direction we put enhanced concentration on integrated system solutions. The change of the company’s name reflects our positioning and underlines the intention to provide whole-product off-grid power solutions to our customers and their specific needs“.

With the introduction of the EFOY ProCube and the SFC Power Manager in the industry and defense markets, SFC has successfully launched initial whole-product solutions. Today, SFC products are applied as hybrid solutions with batteries and solar systems, for example. With this concept SFC offers customers lightweight, silent and flexible off-grid power supply. The company has sold about 19,000 systems for off-grid power supply in leisure, industry, mobility and defense markets. SFC solutions also play a more and more important role in the e-mobility market. Combined heat and power (CHP) with SFC fuel cells offers an attractive solution which eliminates existing limitations of electric vehicles like short-distance range, insufficient winter driving capability, less practical charging times and a missing charging infrastructure. The intelligent combination of battery and fuel cell as hybrid solution enables an environmentally friendly power supply directly onboard the vehicle and generates heat for battery conditioning and car interior. There is no need to recharge the vehicle at an electrical outlet and the vehicle offers high performance in winter and every day use.

More information at www.sfc.com and www.efoy.com.

About SFC Energy AG
SFC Energy AG (www.sfc.com) is market leader in fuel cell technologies for mobile and off-grid power applications serving the leisure, industrial and defense markets. As one of Germany’s technology pioneers, SFC has won numerous innovation awards. SFC has alliances with leading companies in a wide range of industries.  Unlike most other fuel cell manufacturers, who are in the research and development phase or run subsidized demonstration projects, SFC has shipped about 19,000 fully commercial products to industrial and private end users for more than five years, and has created a convenient fuel cartridge supply infrastructure. SFC is DIN ISO 9001:2008 certified. SFC is based in Brunnthal, Germany, and has a sales and technical service office in the U.S. SFC Energy AG is listed in the Prime Standard on the German stock exchange (WKN 756857).