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Brewery exercises option to buy FCE power plants
NEWS commercially during 2007. Using a battery that can be charged either directly from the grid or by a hydrogen fuel cell, the vehicle will have a combined operating range of close to 300 km (185 miles) at an efficiency well above 65%. The TH!NK hydrogen project was started in 2004 with a 1.35 million grant from the Research Council of Norway. The first phase, which ended recently, developed a prototype vehicle. Phase 2 involves the demonstration of up to seven TH!NK hydrogen cars in the Scandinavian Hydrogen Highway Partnership, which aims to establish an early infrastructure of hydrogen fueling stations across the region by 2012. Contact: H2 Logic ApS, Herning, Denmark. Tel: +45 9627 5600, www.h2logic.com
Brewery exercises option to buy FCE power plants
I
n the US, a federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has provided Sierra Nevada Brewing Co in California with a financial incentive to purchase FuelCell Energy power plants that will help it to be energy self-sufficient. Through a power purchase agreement, the brewery has bought four 250 kW Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plants that have been providing base-load electricity and heat for its production processes in initial operations. The DFC power plants, originally supplied by Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy, provide a significant percentage of the brewery’s daily electric power requirements. By purchasing the units, the company will have greater control over its energy costs, while honoring its commitment to environmental sustainability by operating a ‘green’ facility. Late last year, FCE announced that it had upgraded these power plants – making it possible for Sierra Nevada to use fuel created from the waste by-product of its brewing process, reducing the company’s fuel costs by 25–40% [FCB, December 2006]. In other news, FCE has submitted bids for fuel cell power projects, totalling 98.6 MW, to the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) for ‘Project 100’. The project proposals ranged in size from 2.4 MW to 28 MW, and were submitted in partnership with several developers. The CCEF is scheduled to announce project selections in March. The CCEF, created and funded by the state legislature to encourage wider installation of clean energy technologies for the benefit of Connecticut ratepayers, established Project 100 to encourage the installation of 100 MW of electricity, generated by renewable means, by 2008. For this phase of the project, the CCEF has received project proposals that amount to just under 315 MW. 8
Fuel Cells Bulletin
The submissions span a wide range of technologies including the use of fuel cells, wind, biomass and solar energy. Contact: FuelCell Energy Inc, Danbury, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 203 825 6000, www.fce.com
EC funds transatlantic collaboration between Plug Power, Vaillant
T
he European Commission has selected German-based Vaillant Group and Plug Power in the US to receive a grant to develop and demonstrate three hightemperature combined heat and power proton-exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cell system prototypes. The EC will provide 2.5m in funding for the project, which is estimated to have a total value of more than 11m over a two-year period. This is the first cooperative program in fuel cell technology between the EC and the US Department of Energy, which last October awarded $3.6m to support the international collaboration. ‘Vaillant Group and Plug Power have successfully developed and tested three generations of micro combined heat and power fuel cells for more than six years,’ comments Dr Michel Brosset, managing director of the Vaillant Group. ‘The project is a consequent further step in our partnership, and offers a great potential to improve technology based on HT-PEM.’ Plug Power’s operations in the Netherlands will be instrumental in coordinating the transatlantic collaboration. In addition to Plug Power and Vaillant, other companies and organizations participating in the project are German-based PEMEAS, Domel Elektromotorji in Slovenia, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Scottish-based Gaia Group and Imperial College London. Contact: Plug Power Inc, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com Or contact: Plug Power Holland, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 55 538 1000. Or contact: Vaillant GmbH, Remscheid, Germany. Tel: +49 219 118 3660, www.vaillant.de
Ceres meets key targets
U
K-based Ceres Power reports that its intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell technology has achieved key performance and durability targets. Rigorous testing of the fuel cell stacks has demonstrated that the required
levels of durability and performance can be delivered for the market applications it has targeted – namely domestic combined heat and power boilers, off-grid generators and auxiliary power units. To date the company has successfully completed more than 7500 h of stack testing, which reflects the unique design and the use of well proven manufacturing techniques. It has also tested more than 50 stacks of up to 1 kW power output, with repeated thermal cycling between room temperature and operating temperature (600°C) without performance degradation. Stack testing covered a range of commercially available fuels, including natural gas, LPG and propane, which demonstrates the technology’s ability to meet the performance requirements of a wide range of target market applications. The firm says that the performance levels achieved during the testing program have allowed it to ‘freeze’ its core stack technology, which means that it is appropriate for power outputs between 0.5 kW and 5 kW. The firm is currently equipping a new facility that is expected to start operation by mid-2007, and is designed to produce limited volumes of prototype products. These units will be used both for demonstrations and larger field trials. The facility will also be used to develop and validate the manufacturing and assembly processes before mass production begins. Contact: Ceres Power Ltd, Crawley, UK. Tel: +44 1293 400404, www.cerespower.com
NIST, Bilkent team see ethylene for H2 storage
S
cientists at the US National Institute of Standards & Technology and at Bilkent University in Turkey predict that ethylene could offer an important basis for developing frameworks for creating efficient and safe hydrogen storage media. The team’s calculations show that attaching titanium atoms at opposite ends of an ethylene molecule (four hydrogen atoms bound to a pair of carbon atoms) will create a structure that is receptive to additional hydrogen molecules, in what the research workers refer to as very attractive ‘two for’ deal. The addition of the two metal atoms results in a net gain of up to 10 hydrogen molecules that can be ‘absorbed’ into the ethylene–titanium complex – for a total of 20 hydrogen atoms. Furthermore, the engineered material is predicted to release the hydrogen with only a modest amount of heating. The absorbed hydrogen molecules account for about 14 wt% of the ethylene–titanium complex, which is about double the US Department
February 2007
Brewery exercises option to buy FCE power plants
I
n the US, a federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has provided Sierra Nevada Brewing Co in California with a financial incentive to purchase FuelCell Energy power plants that will help it to be energy self-sufficient. Through a power purchase agreement, the brewery has bought four 250 kW Direct FuelCell (DFC) power plants that have been providing base-load electricity and heat for its production processes in initial operations. The DFC power plants, originally supplied by Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy, provide a significant percentage of the brewery’s daily electric power requirements. By purchasing the units, the company will have greater control over its energy costs, while honoring its commitment to environmental sustainability by operating a ‘green’ facility. Late last year, FCE announced that it had upgraded these power plants – making it possible for Sierra Nevada to use fuel created from the waste by-product of its brewing process, reducing the company’s fuel costs by 25–40% [FCB, December 2006]. In other news, FCE has submitted bids for fuel cell power projects, totalling 98.6 MW, to the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) for ‘Project 100’. The project proposals ranged in size from 2.4 MW to 28 MW, and were submitted in partnership with several developers. The CCEF is scheduled to announce project selections in March. The CCEF, created and funded by the state legislature to encourage wider installation of clean energy technologies for the benefit of Connecticut ratepayers, established Project 100 to encourage the installation of 100 MW of electricity, generated by renewable means, by 2008. For this phase of the project, the CCEF has received project proposals that amount to just under 315 MW. 8
Fuel Cells Bulletin
The submissions span a wide range of technologies including the use of fuel cells, wind, biomass and solar energy. Contact: FuelCell Energy Inc, Danbury, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 203 825 6000, www.fce.com
EC funds transatlantic collaboration between Plug Power, Vaillant
T
he European Commission has selected German-based Vaillant Group and Plug Power in the US to receive a grant to develop and demonstrate three hightemperature combined heat and power proton-exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cell system prototypes. The EC will provide 2.5m in funding for the project, which is estimated to have a total value of more than 11m over a two-year period. This is the first cooperative program in fuel cell technology between the EC and the US Department of Energy, which last October awarded $3.6m to support the international collaboration. ‘Vaillant Group and Plug Power have successfully developed and tested three generations of micro combined heat and power fuel cells for more than six years,’ comments Dr Michel Brosset, managing director of the Vaillant Group. ‘The project is a consequent further step in our partnership, and offers a great potential to improve technology based on HT-PEM.’ Plug Power’s operations in the Netherlands will be instrumental in coordinating the transatlantic collaboration. In addition to Plug Power and Vaillant, other companies and organizations participating in the project are German-based PEMEAS, Domel Elektromotorji in Slovenia, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Scottish-based Gaia Group and Imperial College London. Contact: Plug Power Inc, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com Or contact: Plug Power Holland, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 55 538 1000. Or contact: Vaillant GmbH, Remscheid, Germany. Tel: +49 219 118 3660, www.vaillant.de
Ceres meets key targets
U
K-based Ceres Power reports that its intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell technology has achieved key performance and durability targets. Rigorous testing of the fuel cell stacks has demonstrated that the required
levels of durability and performance can be delivered for the market applications it has targeted – namely domestic combined heat and power boilers, off-grid generators and auxiliary power units. To date the company has successfully completed more than 7500 h of stack testing, which reflects the unique design and the use of well proven manufacturing techniques. It has also tested more than 50 stacks of up to 1 kW power output, with repeated thermal cycling between room temperature and operating temperature (600°C) without performance degradation. Stack testing covered a range of commercially available fuels, including natural gas, LPG and propane, which demonstrates the technology’s ability to meet the performance requirements of a wide range of target market applications. The firm says that the performance levels achieved during the testing program have allowed it to ‘freeze’ its core stack technology, which means that it is appropriate for power outputs between 0.5 kW and 5 kW. The firm is currently equipping a new facility that is expected to start operation by mid-2007, and is designed to produce limited volumes of prototype products. These units will be used both for demonstrations and larger field trials. The facility will also be used to develop and validate the manufacturing and assembly processes before mass production begins. Contact: Ceres Power Ltd, Crawley, UK. Tel: +44 1293 400404, www.cerespower.com
NIST, Bilkent team see ethylene for H2 storage
S
cientists at the US National Institute of Standards & Technology and at Bilkent University in Turkey predict that ethylene could offer an important basis for developing frameworks for creating efficient and safe hydrogen storage media. The team’s calculations show that attaching titanium atoms at opposite ends of an ethylene molecule (four hydrogen atoms bound to a pair of carbon atoms) will create a structure that is receptive to additional hydrogen molecules, in what the research workers refer to as very attractive ‘two for’ deal. The addition of the two metal atoms results in a net gain of up to 10 hydrogen molecules that can be ‘absorbed’ into the ethylene–titanium complex – for a total of 20 hydrogen atoms. Furthermore, the engineered material is predicted to release the hydrogen with only a modest amount of heating. The absorbed hydrogen molecules account for about 14 wt% of the ethylene–titanium complex, which is about double the US Department
February 2007