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AFC Energy in UK project to add fuel cells to new power station
NEWS ‘Adobe has long been a leader in setting the bar for environmental sustainability in Silicon Valley,’ says Stu Aaron, vice president of marketing and product management at Bloom Energy. ‘With its significant installation of Bloom Energy Servers, the company can now enjoy a smarter, localized energy source that will both reduce its carbon impact and its electricity costs.’ Adobe will purchase biogas methane as feedstock through a five-year contract with a Pennsylvania landfill site, according to VentureBeat.com. Adobe will pay for the gas to be put into a pipeline, offsetting the methane used in California. The Bloom fuel cell installation is Adobe’s second major renewable energy installation, following the commissioning last December of 20 wind turbines. ‘While the wind is fairly constant, [the wind turbines] are not a large producer of energy at this point. Fuel cells look like they offered the best alternative,’ says Randy Knox, senior director of global workplace solutions for Adobe. ‘At this point and based on everything I’ve seen, I would say fuel cells are by far the best solution in an urban environment.’ Meanwhile, Reuters reports that Bloom Energy expects to be producing one box per day in the next few months. Chief executive and co-founder K.R. Sridhar says that the main limitation on the growth of the business is building a supply chain to feed it. ‘As the supply chain is ramping up, then we can ramp up, and at no point will our internal capacity become the bottleneck,’ Sridhar told the Reuters Climate Change and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco. The company has 50 systems deployed, and expects to have double that number in operation by the end of 2010, says Sridhar, who wants to be producing far more boxes to meet what he calls ‘robust’ demand. The Bloom Energy Server is currently producing power for several Fortune 500 companies in California – including Coca-Cola, eBay, FedEx, Google, and Walmart – following its market launch earlier this year [FCB, March 2010]. Bloom Energy Corporation, Sunnyvale, California, USA. Tel: +1 408 543 1500, www.bloomenergy.com Adobe Systems Inc: www.adobe.com
AFC Energy in UK project to add fuel cells to new power station
I
n the UK, three companies have joined forces to develop a ‘game-changing’ venture in clean power generation. Powerfuel Power, B9 Coal, and AFC
6
Fuel Cells Bulletin
Energy have signed a binding letter of intent to install AFC Energy’s lowcost alkaline fuel cell technology at Powerfuel’s Hatfield site near Doncaster. The agreement envisages the creation of a joint venture between B9 Coal and Powerfuel to exclusively develop low-carbon fuel cell power stations in the UK. B9 Coal will be responsible for installing up to 300 MW of AFC Energy’s fuel cell technology alongside Powerfuel’s planned integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power station. The agreement also includes an option to roll out the technology to further territories worldwide in the future. Powerfuel is constructing a large-scale IGCC, near-zero emissions power station with carbon capture capability adjacent to the Hatfield Colliery at Stainforth, South Yorkshire, with E180 million (US$250 million) of European Union funding. Initial construction will involve an 800 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility optimized for syngas conversion and operation. Powerfuel then plans to convert the CCGT plant into a 900 MW IGCC power station fueled by its extensive coal resources at Hatfield Colliery. The syngas used in the plant can easily be passed through a gas cleanup process to produce hydrogen as a feedstock for AFC Energy’s alkaline fuel cells. This technology converts hydrogen to electricity at 60% electrical efficiency. The deployment marks the second clean coal project in the UK to adopt AFC Energy’s technology. In the summer B9 Coal announced that it is putting forward a major consortium bid for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration competition [FCB, September 2010]. The groundbreaking project proposed at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Lynemouth Smelter in Northumberland will combine AFC Energy’s fuel cells with Linc Energy’s underground coal gasification (UCG) technology, a process which could potentially give access to an extra 17 billion tonnes of coal in the UK. ‘The planned installation at a major low-carbon power station such as Hatfield is testament to the growing understanding of the fuel cell as a pull-through technology for the widespread adoption of CCS,’ says AFC Energy’s CEO, Ian Balchin. ‘AFC Energy’s fuel cell technology is gaining considerable momentum across a variety of industries and applications, including the chlor-alkali sector [FCB, February 2010], wasteto-energy, clean coal, and natural gas.’ AFC Energy Plc, Cranleigh, Surrey, UK. Tel: +44 1483 276726, www.afcenergy.com B9 Coal Ltd: www.b9coal.com Powerfuel Power Ltd: www.powerfuel.plc.uk
PORTABLE & MICRO
SFC wins German army order for portable soldier energy network
M
unich-based SFC Energy has received a further serial order from the German army, which will be introducing the portable Jenny fuel cell into a new energy network for soldiers. The units are based on SFC’s compact direct methanol fuel cell technology. The system solution consists of the portable Jenny fuel cell, the SFC Power Manager, a hybrid battery specially tailored to the system, and a solar panel, as well as extensive accessories. This flexible energy network allows operation of widely different power consumers – e.g. radios, navigational equipment, night-vision equipment, laser range-finders, portable computers, and PDAs – which can be used when stationary and on the march. The new order – worth approximately E1 million (US$1.4 million) – was received in the third quarter of 2010, and the systems are expected to be delivered by the end of the year. The hybrid solution links fuel cells, solar cells, batteries, and intelligent power management in an integrated energy network. It reduces a soldier’s load by up to 80% compared to conventional electricity supply solutions using batteries. The SFC Power Manager – an intelligent voltage converter – allows almost any device to be flexibly supplied with electricity using available sources, such as fuel cells, solar panels, or batteries. The network also allows different battery types to be charged on the move during operations. The power supply and energy management is fully automatic, almost silent, emissions-free, and almost undetectable. ‘With the second serial order from the German army in 2010, SFC is further extending its leadership as the main provider of independent power supplies in the defense area [FCB, July 2010],’ says Dr Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy. ‘This is a significant milestone; we have moved from being a development partner to a product/system supplier.’
SFC Energy AG, Brunnthal, Germany. Tel: +49 89 673 5920, www.sfc.com
November 2010
AFC Energy in UK project to add fuel cells to new power station
I
n the UK, three companies have joined forces to develop a ‘game-changing’ venture in clean power generation. Powerfuel Power, B9 Coal, and AFC
6
Fuel Cells Bulletin
Energy have signed a binding letter of intent to install AFC Energy’s lowcost alkaline fuel cell technology at Powerfuel’s Hatfield site near Doncaster. The agreement envisages the creation of a joint venture between B9 Coal and Powerfuel to exclusively develop low-carbon fuel cell power stations in the UK. B9 Coal will be responsible for installing up to 300 MW of AFC Energy’s fuel cell technology alongside Powerfuel’s planned integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power station. The agreement also includes an option to roll out the technology to further territories worldwide in the future. Powerfuel is constructing a large-scale IGCC, near-zero emissions power station with carbon capture capability adjacent to the Hatfield Colliery at Stainforth, South Yorkshire, with E180 million (US$250 million) of European Union funding. Initial construction will involve an 800 MW combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) facility optimized for syngas conversion and operation. Powerfuel then plans to convert the CCGT plant into a 900 MW IGCC power station fueled by its extensive coal resources at Hatfield Colliery. The syngas used in the plant can easily be passed through a gas cleanup process to produce hydrogen as a feedstock for AFC Energy’s alkaline fuel cells. This technology converts hydrogen to electricity at 60% electrical efficiency. The deployment marks the second clean coal project in the UK to adopt AFC Energy’s technology. In the summer B9 Coal announced that it is putting forward a major consortium bid for the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration competition [FCB, September 2010]. The groundbreaking project proposed at Rio Tinto Alcan’s Lynemouth Smelter in Northumberland will combine AFC Energy’s fuel cells with Linc Energy’s underground coal gasification (UCG) technology, a process which could potentially give access to an extra 17 billion tonnes of coal in the UK. ‘The planned installation at a major low-carbon power station such as Hatfield is testament to the growing understanding of the fuel cell as a pull-through technology for the widespread adoption of CCS,’ says AFC Energy’s CEO, Ian Balchin. ‘AFC Energy’s fuel cell technology is gaining considerable momentum across a variety of industries and applications, including the chlor-alkali sector [FCB, February 2010], wasteto-energy, clean coal, and natural gas.’ AFC Energy Plc, Cranleigh, Surrey, UK. Tel: +44 1483 276726, www.afcenergy.com B9 Coal Ltd: www.b9coal.com Powerfuel Power Ltd: www.powerfuel.plc.uk
PORTABLE & MICRO
SFC wins German army order for portable soldier energy network
M
unich-based SFC Energy has received a further serial order from the German army, which will be introducing the portable Jenny fuel cell into a new energy network for soldiers. The units are based on SFC’s compact direct methanol fuel cell technology. The system solution consists of the portable Jenny fuel cell, the SFC Power Manager, a hybrid battery specially tailored to the system, and a solar panel, as well as extensive accessories. This flexible energy network allows operation of widely different power consumers – e.g. radios, navigational equipment, night-vision equipment, laser range-finders, portable computers, and PDAs – which can be used when stationary and on the march. The new order – worth approximately E1 million (US$1.4 million) – was received in the third quarter of 2010, and the systems are expected to be delivered by the end of the year. The hybrid solution links fuel cells, solar cells, batteries, and intelligent power management in an integrated energy network. It reduces a soldier’s load by up to 80% compared to conventional electricity supply solutions using batteries. The SFC Power Manager – an intelligent voltage converter – allows almost any device to be flexibly supplied with electricity using available sources, such as fuel cells, solar panels, or batteries. The network also allows different battery types to be charged on the move during operations. The power supply and energy management is fully automatic, almost silent, emissions-free, and almost undetectable. ‘With the second serial order from the German army in 2010, SFC is further extending its leadership as the main provider of independent power supplies in the defense area [FCB, July 2010],’ says Dr Peter Podesser, CEO of SFC Energy. ‘This is a significant milestone; we have moved from being a development partner to a product/system supplier.’
SFC Energy AG, Brunnthal, Germany. Tel: +49 89 673 5920, www.sfc.com
November 2010