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Exergy Microgen 30 project wins grant
NEWS
P21 backup system at GSMA congress
G
erman-based P21 GmbH, which develops, produces and markets energy-management technology for the telecoms industry, introduced its latest backup systems at the recent GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The firm’s Premion T 4000 fuel cell system – a key component of a backup system – made its debut at the show. P21 says that since 2004 it has used PEM fuel cell technology to guarantee that mobile telephony networks and base stations function reliably for international mobile network providers. Early last year the company successfully completed a six-month test of its PEM fuel cell system with one of the leading mobile telephony providers in Kuwait [FCB, September 2008]. In collaboration with a local partner, a 6 kW Premion T fuel cell system was installed last October. The existing 3G base station is located near Fnaitees in Kuwait City. During the test phase, the fuel cell system took over the task of supplying emergency electrical power. P21, which is based near Munich, is expanding its portfolio in 2009 to include additional systems and products that are adapted to meet the needs of its customers in the telecoms industry. The company has also further intensified the range of services it offers, relating to these systems and products. ‘In view of rapidly increasing energy costs in the telecommunications industry as a whole, and in particular for supplying power to mobile network base stations, we are now focusing even more strongly on innovative technology in the field of energy management,’ says Dieter Klein, chief operating officer of P21. Contact: P21 GmbH, Brunnthal, Munich, Germany. Tel: +49 89 6074 5720, www.p-21.de
Exergy Microgen 30 project wins grant
B
ologna-based Exergy Fuel Cells has won the Italian ‘Selection Industria 2015’ grant competition with its Microgen 30 project, in partnership with Italian company ICI Caldaie and several other companies and research institutes. The Microgen 30 project was ranked top in the list drawn up by
April 2009
Italy’s ministry of economic development. The grant is worth more than E1.9 million (US$2.5m). Microgen 30 is a medium-size combined heat and power (CHP) energy system based on a PEM fuel cell. The goal for the system is to generate 30 kW of electricity and 50 kW of heat. ICI Caldaie SpA, which operates in the heating and boiler industry is the project team leader, while Exergy – a subsidiary of Sweden’s Morphic Technology – is responsible for the fuel cell and the goal of refining the technology for a low-cost stack. Also involved are Exergy’s sister companies Cell Impact (in Sweden) and Helbio (in Greece) which, respectively, are developing the bipolar plates and a catalyst based on carbon nanotube technology. The other project partners are the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Environment (ENEA); the Politecnico di Milano technical university; and the Institute on Membrane Technology of the Italian National Research Council (ITM-CNR). ‘The potential for improving fuel cell technology for residential applications is strongly increased by the fact that our sister companies Helbio and Cell Impact can support us with bipolar plate, electrode and catalyst technologies – enabling us to develop high-temperature fuel cell stacks with high efficiency and at a reduced cost,’ comments Angelo D’Anzi, managing director of Exergy Fuel Cells. He continues: ‘This project will give us impulse to look at the future with increased hope and enthusiasm, since we will gain all the technical knowledge necessary to proceed to the industrialization of fuel cells for the consumer market.’ Industria 2015 is a bill on industrial policy launched by the Italian government in 2006, enacting a European Union energy efficiency directive. In this framework, the ministry of economic development, through Industria 2015, will support projects that aim to improve energy management, the industrialization process of sustainable energy technologies, and related R&D, in the near to medium time frame (2015). Exergy Fuel Cells develops and produces high-performance PEM fuel cells, in a variety of versions and sizes, based on its own patented design. Several of the fuel cell products have left the prototype stage and are in series manufacturing. The company also offers fuel cell stacks and components to other fuel cell system developers. Contact: Exergy Fuel Cells Technology Srl, Cadriano di Granarolo (Bologna), Italy. Tel: +39 051 675 1129, www.exergyfuelcells.com Or contact: Morphic Technologies AB, Karlskoga, Sweden. Tel: +46 586 67390, www.morphic.se
IN BRIEF Nasa Glenn-led team establishing renewable hydrogen station in Ohio Nasa’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio (www. grc.nasa.gov) is leading a team of industry and university partners in demonstrating a prototype commercial hydrogen fueling station that uses wind and solar power to produce hydrogen from water. This initial installation will produce hydrogen from Lake Erie water, to fuel a mass transit bus powered by fuel cells. The demonstration, featuring a unique, highcapacity electrolyzer that separates water into hydrogen and oxygen, is part of an economic development program in the Cleveland area. Local workers will design and build the electrolyzer using commercially available components. The Glennled collaboration will customize the electrolyzer for the prototype fueling station, and design the circuitry needed to use renewable energy sources to power the electrolyzer and fueling station. The hydrogen station will be located in downtown Cleveland, where it will be powered by existing wind and solar power sources at the Great Lakes Science Center. The station will generate hydrogen for use in a Greater Cleveland RTA bus powered by fuel cells. The transit authority will operate the bus in revenue service. The build-up of the electrolyzer, a major step toward the reality of the fueling station, is funded by the Ohio Aerospace Institute through a $310 000 grant from The Cleveland Foundation. Cleveland State University’s Nance College of Business Administration will work alongside the collaborators to develop a business template for the electrolyzer and station. Other collaborators include Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Consultants of Brecksville; the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State University in Columbus; Parker Hannifin and Technology Management Inc (TMI) of Cleveland; Sierra Lobo of Milan; Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Connecticut; the University of Toledo; and the Earth Day Coalition of Cleveland. 2009 Fuel Cell Seminar call for papers The deadline is fast approaching for submitting an abstract for this year’s Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition, which returns to Palm Springs, California on 16–19 November. The theme for the event is ‘Fuel cells: The new generation of green power’. Abstracts are invited on the following topics: UÊ } Ìi«iÀ>ÌÕÀiÊ,E Ê>`ÊvÕiÊ«ÀViÃÃ}° UÊ L>ÊÛiÀÛiÜÃ]ÊÜÌi«iÀ>ÌÕÀiÊ,E ]Ê hydrogen R&D, and fuel cell testing and modeling. UÊ iÃÌÀ>ÌÃÊ>`Êi`ÕÃiÀÊ«iÀëiVÌÛið UÊ iÀV>â>Ì° Abstracts must be submitted via the website, with the submission deadline of the end of Thursday 7 May. More information: www.fuelcellseminar.com
Fuel Cells Bulletin
5
P21 backup system at GSMA congress
G
erman-based P21 GmbH, which develops, produces and markets energy-management technology for the telecoms industry, introduced its latest backup systems at the recent GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The firm’s Premion T 4000 fuel cell system – a key component of a backup system – made its debut at the show. P21 says that since 2004 it has used PEM fuel cell technology to guarantee that mobile telephony networks and base stations function reliably for international mobile network providers. Early last year the company successfully completed a six-month test of its PEM fuel cell system with one of the leading mobile telephony providers in Kuwait [FCB, September 2008]. In collaboration with a local partner, a 6 kW Premion T fuel cell system was installed last October. The existing 3G base station is located near Fnaitees in Kuwait City. During the test phase, the fuel cell system took over the task of supplying emergency electrical power. P21, which is based near Munich, is expanding its portfolio in 2009 to include additional systems and products that are adapted to meet the needs of its customers in the telecoms industry. The company has also further intensified the range of services it offers, relating to these systems and products. ‘In view of rapidly increasing energy costs in the telecommunications industry as a whole, and in particular for supplying power to mobile network base stations, we are now focusing even more strongly on innovative technology in the field of energy management,’ says Dieter Klein, chief operating officer of P21. Contact: P21 GmbH, Brunnthal, Munich, Germany. Tel: +49 89 6074 5720, www.p-21.de
Exergy Microgen 30 project wins grant
B
ologna-based Exergy Fuel Cells has won the Italian ‘Selection Industria 2015’ grant competition with its Microgen 30 project, in partnership with Italian company ICI Caldaie and several other companies and research institutes. The Microgen 30 project was ranked top in the list drawn up by
April 2009
Italy’s ministry of economic development. The grant is worth more than E1.9 million (US$2.5m). Microgen 30 is a medium-size combined heat and power (CHP) energy system based on a PEM fuel cell. The goal for the system is to generate 30 kW of electricity and 50 kW of heat. ICI Caldaie SpA, which operates in the heating and boiler industry is the project team leader, while Exergy – a subsidiary of Sweden’s Morphic Technology – is responsible for the fuel cell and the goal of refining the technology for a low-cost stack. Also involved are Exergy’s sister companies Cell Impact (in Sweden) and Helbio (in Greece) which, respectively, are developing the bipolar plates and a catalyst based on carbon nanotube technology. The other project partners are the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Environment (ENEA); the Politecnico di Milano technical university; and the Institute on Membrane Technology of the Italian National Research Council (ITM-CNR). ‘The potential for improving fuel cell technology for residential applications is strongly increased by the fact that our sister companies Helbio and Cell Impact can support us with bipolar plate, electrode and catalyst technologies – enabling us to develop high-temperature fuel cell stacks with high efficiency and at a reduced cost,’ comments Angelo D’Anzi, managing director of Exergy Fuel Cells. He continues: ‘This project will give us impulse to look at the future with increased hope and enthusiasm, since we will gain all the technical knowledge necessary to proceed to the industrialization of fuel cells for the consumer market.’ Industria 2015 is a bill on industrial policy launched by the Italian government in 2006, enacting a European Union energy efficiency directive. In this framework, the ministry of economic development, through Industria 2015, will support projects that aim to improve energy management, the industrialization process of sustainable energy technologies, and related R&D, in the near to medium time frame (2015). Exergy Fuel Cells develops and produces high-performance PEM fuel cells, in a variety of versions and sizes, based on its own patented design. Several of the fuel cell products have left the prototype stage and are in series manufacturing. The company also offers fuel cell stacks and components to other fuel cell system developers. Contact: Exergy Fuel Cells Technology Srl, Cadriano di Granarolo (Bologna), Italy. Tel: +39 051 675 1129, www.exergyfuelcells.com Or contact: Morphic Technologies AB, Karlskoga, Sweden. Tel: +46 586 67390, www.morphic.se
IN BRIEF Nasa Glenn-led team establishing renewable hydrogen station in Ohio Nasa’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio (www. grc.nasa.gov) is leading a team of industry and university partners in demonstrating a prototype commercial hydrogen fueling station that uses wind and solar power to produce hydrogen from water. This initial installation will produce hydrogen from Lake Erie water, to fuel a mass transit bus powered by fuel cells. The demonstration, featuring a unique, highcapacity electrolyzer that separates water into hydrogen and oxygen, is part of an economic development program in the Cleveland area. Local workers will design and build the electrolyzer using commercially available components. The Glennled collaboration will customize the electrolyzer for the prototype fueling station, and design the circuitry needed to use renewable energy sources to power the electrolyzer and fueling station. The hydrogen station will be located in downtown Cleveland, where it will be powered by existing wind and solar power sources at the Great Lakes Science Center. The station will generate hydrogen for use in a Greater Cleveland RTA bus powered by fuel cells. The transit authority will operate the bus in revenue service. The build-up of the electrolyzer, a major step toward the reality of the fueling station, is funded by the Ohio Aerospace Institute through a $310 000 grant from The Cleveland Foundation. Cleveland State University’s Nance College of Business Administration will work alongside the collaborators to develop a business template for the electrolyzer and station. Other collaborators include Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Consultants of Brecksville; the Center for Automotive Research at Ohio State University in Columbus; Parker Hannifin and Technology Management Inc (TMI) of Cleveland; Sierra Lobo of Milan; Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Connecticut; the University of Toledo; and the Earth Day Coalition of Cleveland. 2009 Fuel Cell Seminar call for papers The deadline is fast approaching for submitting an abstract for this year’s Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition, which returns to Palm Springs, California on 16–19 November. The theme for the event is ‘Fuel cells: The new generation of green power’. Abstracts are invited on the following topics: UÊ } Ìi«iÀ>ÌÕÀiÊ,E Ê>`ÊvÕiÊ«ÀViÃÃ}° UÊ L>ÊÛiÀÛiÜÃ]ÊÜÌi«iÀ>ÌÕÀiÊ,E ]Ê hydrogen R&D, and fuel cell testing and modeling. UÊ iÃÌÀ>ÌÃÊ>`Êi`ÕÃiÀÊ«iÀëiVÌÛið UÊ iÀV>â>Ì° Abstracts must be submitted via the website, with the submission deadline of the end of Thursday 7 May. More information: www.fuelcellseminar.com
Fuel Cells Bulletin
5