- Email: [email protected]
FuelCell Energy sells 15 MW fuel cell park to Connecticut utility
NEWS The Bachhausen substation supplies the surrounding municipalities and the pumping station of the Main-Danube Canal. It was selected for the project because it has the appropriate infrastructure, and is easily accessible for demonstration and testing purposes by the participating partners. ‘It’s a great success for Proton, that a major energy provider such as E.ON AG is relying on the PM Module S5 in managing their power grid and in a critical application ensuring the supply of electricity to consumers,’ says Dr Faiz Francois Nahab, CEO of Proton Motor’s parent company, UK-based Proton Power Systems Plc. ‘We are ready for more projects of this kind, and hope to implement them soon.’ Proton Motor recently signed a cooperation agreement with Modl, a leading supplier of intelligent power system solutions, to address the need for interruption-free and energyefficient storage for the stationary power supply market [FCB, September 2012, p4]. Proton offers products and services in both stationary and mobile applications, from rack-mounted fuel cell systems for IT industry customers to servicing the Alsterwasser fuel cell powered ferry in Hamburg [FCB, December 2011, p8]. Proton Motor Fuel Cell GmbH, Puchheim, Germany. Tel: +49 89 1276 2650, www.proton-motor.de Proton Power Systems Plc, UK: www.protonpowersystems.com Modl GmbH: www.modl.de E.ON Bayern: www.eon-bayern.com
Hydrogenics wins big backup power order from CommScope
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oronto-based Hydrogenics has received an order for HyPM™ XR Series PEM fuel cell power modules from its US partner, CommScope. Hydrogenics power modules will be integrated into CommScope’s fuel cell cabinets as the backup power solution for hundreds of wireless sites in North America, servicing a leading wireless operator. This is the largest single order from CommScope since the announcement of the strategic alliance between CommScope and Hydrogenics in 2010 [FCB, September 2010, p9]. This award is significant as it brings total orders in the Hydrogenics power systems business to over US$100 million for 2012. ‘CommScope is a leader in providing communications infrastructure solutions to the world’s largest telecom players,’ says Daryl
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Fuel Cells Bulletin
Wilson, president and CEO of Hydrogenics. ‘Hydrogen backup power cabinets provide a clean, reliable, long-term energy source to cell sites while avoiding the inherent issues and costs associated with batteries and diesel generators.’ ‘We have worked closely with CommScope to develop and launch a best-in-class outdoor backup power solution for telecom customers,’ continues Wilson. ‘This year we have seen increased interest for the CommScope/ Hydrogenics backup power package from telecom players around the globe, and we anticipate similar interest in 2013.’ Hydrogenics Corporation, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Tel: +1 905 361 3660, www.hydrogenics.com CommScope Inc: www.commscope.com
German study proves benefits of fuel cells for family homes
A
new study published by the German Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU) highlights the potential of fuel cell heating systems, for example as add-on appliances in some 14 million single- or two-family homes in Germany, for enhancing energy efficiency in buildings and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The IFEU study, Ecological and economic analysis of fuel-cell heating systems, was published on behalf of the VDMA engineering industry association and the Initiative Brennstoffzelle (IBZ, Fuel Cell Initiative for residential fuel cell CHP systems). The report confirms how fuel cell heating systems clearly stand out against competitive cogeneration technologies, such as Stirling or Otto engines. They are also suitable for buildings with low heat requirements, like modern single-family homes and individual houses, and even for future building concepts such as very low energy or passive houses. In addition, the low noise level and minimal pollutant emissions facilitate their installation, especially in apartments. The IFEU has calculated that fuel cells reach a high number of full load hours per annum, so devices with a low total power achieve the highest values, since they are not limited by thermal output. The study also proves that maximising the in-house usage of produced power, and thus low feed-in, represents the most profitable operational mode. This is most notably achieved by those devices designed to cover the electrical baseload.
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU): www.ifeu.org/english VDMA, Fuel Cells: www.vdma.org/brennstoffzellen (in German) Initiative Brennstoffzelle: www.ibz-info.de (in German) Download the report: http://tinyurl.com/as75wts (in German)
LARGE STATIONARY
FuelCell Energy sells 15 MW fuel cell park to Connecticut utility
I
n Connecticut, FuelCell Energy is providing a turnkey distributed power generation solution for the engineering, procurement, and construction of a 14.9 MW fuel cell park in Bridgeport. The deal includes the manufacture and sale of five 2.8 MW DFC3000® molten carbonate fuel cell power plants that will run on natural gas. Electric/gas utility Dominion will oversee the development, and owns the facility. Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) will buy the ultra-clean electricity generated by the facility under a 15-year fixed-price energy purchase agreement. This 14.9 MW installation, consisting of the five fuel cell power plants and an organic Rankine cycle turbine for added output and further efficiency gains, is adequate to power approximately 15 000 average-sized US homes. Construction has already begun, with the first power plant installation due in the summer, and the remaining units installed in stages. The interconnection process to connect the fuel cell park to three electrical substations in Bridgeport is already under way through United Illuminating, the local utility that owns the substations. The fuel cell park, located on approximately 1.7 acres (0.7 ha) of land leased from the City of Bridgeport, will be fully operational by December. ‘This is the largest project that we have developed to date in the US, working with three utilities, local and state government to enhance the reliability of the electric grid with clean distributed power generation,’ says Chip Bottone, president and CEO of FuelCell Energy. ‘This highly efficient and ultra-clean fuel cell park will produce economic value for a broad number of stakeholders, both public and private, as well as provide public health benefits.’ The project is supported by the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA, formerly the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund).
January 2013
NEWS The project will increase product and service backlog for FuelCell Energy by approximately $125 million, including $56 million for product backlog and $69 million for service backlog. Multi-MW fuel cell parks solve power generation challenges for utilities, as the combination of dramatically lower pollutants, modest land-use needs, and quiet operation facilitates siting in urban locations. Fuel cell parks offer advantages for utilities and communities, including high efficiency, scalability, distributed generation, reliability, and baseload power around the clock. Project owner Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell LLC will oversee the development, construction, and operation of the facility. Other project partners include Ormat Technologies, which is supplying the proprietary organic Rankine cycle equipment, the Ormat® Energy Converter, which converts heat into electricity. The electrical inverters for the fuel cell power plants will come from Rockwell Automation. The world’s largest fuel cell park, a 58.8 MW installation in Korea, will utilise fuel cell power plants sold by POSCO Energy and based on designs and components from FuelCell Energy [FCB, October 2012, p1]. FuelCell Energy, Danbury, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 203 825 6000, www.fuelcellenergy.com Dominion: www.dom.com Connecticut Light & Power: www.cl-p.com Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority: www.ctcleanenergy.com United Illuminating Company: www.uinet.com Ormat Technologies: www.ormat.com Rockwell Automation: www.rockwellautomation.com
Apple doubles fuel cell capacity at NC data centre with Bloom
A
pple plans to double the size of the solid oxide fuel cell installation at its new data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, taking it to a total of 10 MW installed capacity when completed. The facility will again use Bloom Energy Servers, running on filtered landfill gas (‘directed biogas’), which is considered a renewable energy resource under North Carolina’s green energy regulations. The first phase of Apple’s fuel cell powered data center project in Maiden began testing last October, following the order announcement
January 2013
last spring [FCB, May 2012, p11]. When it is complete the Apple facility will again be the largest data centre fuel cell installation in the US – a title it quickly lost to eBay when the online auction giant announced its own plans for 6 MW of Bloom Energy Servers for its newly expanded data centre in Utah [FCB, July 2012, p5]. Apple filed the expansion plans for its data centre with the North Carolina Utilities Commission in November, to increase the size of its fuel cell farm from 4.8 MW to 10 MW. Any excess energy generated by the fuel cells and the 250 acre (101 ha) solar farm on the site will be sold to utility Duke Energy. According to the filing, Apple anticipates that the expanded fuel cell facility will be online by the end of January. California-based Bloom Energy is building up an impressive array of high-profile customers for its SOFC technology, based on its 100 and 200 kW Energy Server products. Last autumn telecoms giant AT&T announced plans to install an additional 9.6 MW of Bloom Energy power plants at sites in California and Connecticut, making it Bloom Energy’s largest non-utility customer, with 17.1 MW total installed capacity [FCB, November 2012, p6]. Bloom also has units in service with major companies such as Life Technologies Corporation [FCB, August 2012, p6] as well as organisations such as the University of California at Santa Barbara [FCB, October 2012, p6]. But Bloom Energy doesn’t have the data centre market to itself – Microsoft recently announced that its Data Plant research project in Cheyenne, Wyoming will be powered by a fuel cell supplied by Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy [FCB, December 2012, p5]. The molten carbonate power plant will utilise renewable biogas methane generated by a wastewater treatment facility. Bloom Energy Corporation, Sunnyvale, California, USA. Tel: +1 408 543 1500, www.bloomenergy.com
PORTABLE & MICRO
SFC’s EFOY Pro fuel cell generator powers eagle watch unit
E
FOY Pro fuel cell generators from German-based SFC Energy have enabled the undisturbed video observation of a pair of white-tailed eagles over their recent breeding season in northern Scotland. The direct methanol fuel cell unit – installed by SFC’s system integration partner and
IN BRIEF ITM selects McPhy hydrogen storage tech French-based McPhy Energy (www.mcphy. com) has delivered a solid-state hydrogen storage tank to ITM Power in the UK. The hydrogen tank is based on McPhy’s magnesium hydride technology, and can store up to 4 kg of hydrogen. It can store hydrogen when it is produced, and then release it very easily on demand [see page 6]. ‘McPhy is the first-mover in providing commercial metal hydride storage units at the 4 kg scale that are plug-and-play,’ says Dr Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power (www.itm-power.com), a leading developer of hydrogen production systems using electrolysis, whose membrane technology can also be used in fuel cells [see page 11]. sunfire and staxera complete merger In Germany, sunfire GmbH (www.sunfire. de) has completed its merger with solid oxide fuel cell stack developer staxera GmbH, finalising the acquisition which took place in spring 2011 [FCB, June 2011, p10]. The new company will operate as sunfire GmbH, and continue to be headquartered in Dresden. The merger enables new shareholders Bilfinger Venture Capital GmbH and KfW banking group to come on board, while Carl Berninghausen and Christian von Olshausen will continue as CEO and CTO, respectively. The staxera brand will still be used as a product name for SOFC applications; sunfire is also developing an electrolysis-based process to generate synthetic renewable fuels from CO2 and water. enymotion files for bankruptcy Last summer German-based enymotion GmbH (www.enymotion.com) presented its LPG-powered fuel cell system for the camping sector at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf. But just before Christmas the company filed an application for insolvency proceedings. According to an HZwei report, this came after investor Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn decided it was no longer willing to support the company after repeated shifts of the launch date for its enyware L200 unit, which features a hightemperature PEM fuel cell with a fuel processor. Plug Power cuts jobs to boost efficiency In upstate New York, Plug Power has released 22 full-time employees as part of a restructuring plan intended to save the company as much as $4 million in annual operating expenses, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The job cuts should minimise the impact on manufacturing operations. Plug Power runs on ‘lean’ manufacturing principles, according to a TimesUnion.com report, and uses part-time workers for manufacturing and assembly to give it more flexibility week-to-week [see the feature on Plug Power in FCB, December 2011].
Fuel Cells Bulletin
5
Hydrogenics wins big backup power order from CommScope
T
oronto-based Hydrogenics has received an order for HyPM™ XR Series PEM fuel cell power modules from its US partner, CommScope. Hydrogenics power modules will be integrated into CommScope’s fuel cell cabinets as the backup power solution for hundreds of wireless sites in North America, servicing a leading wireless operator. This is the largest single order from CommScope since the announcement of the strategic alliance between CommScope and Hydrogenics in 2010 [FCB, September 2010, p9]. This award is significant as it brings total orders in the Hydrogenics power systems business to over US$100 million for 2012. ‘CommScope is a leader in providing communications infrastructure solutions to the world’s largest telecom players,’ says Daryl
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Fuel Cells Bulletin
Wilson, president and CEO of Hydrogenics. ‘Hydrogen backup power cabinets provide a clean, reliable, long-term energy source to cell sites while avoiding the inherent issues and costs associated with batteries and diesel generators.’ ‘We have worked closely with CommScope to develop and launch a best-in-class outdoor backup power solution for telecom customers,’ continues Wilson. ‘This year we have seen increased interest for the CommScope/ Hydrogenics backup power package from telecom players around the globe, and we anticipate similar interest in 2013.’ Hydrogenics Corporation, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Tel: +1 905 361 3660, www.hydrogenics.com CommScope Inc: www.commscope.com
German study proves benefits of fuel cells for family homes
A
new study published by the German Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU) highlights the potential of fuel cell heating systems, for example as add-on appliances in some 14 million single- or two-family homes in Germany, for enhancing energy efficiency in buildings and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The IFEU study, Ecological and economic analysis of fuel-cell heating systems, was published on behalf of the VDMA engineering industry association and the Initiative Brennstoffzelle (IBZ, Fuel Cell Initiative for residential fuel cell CHP systems). The report confirms how fuel cell heating systems clearly stand out against competitive cogeneration technologies, such as Stirling or Otto engines. They are also suitable for buildings with low heat requirements, like modern single-family homes and individual houses, and even for future building concepts such as very low energy or passive houses. In addition, the low noise level and minimal pollutant emissions facilitate their installation, especially in apartments. The IFEU has calculated that fuel cells reach a high number of full load hours per annum, so devices with a low total power achieve the highest values, since they are not limited by thermal output. The study also proves that maximising the in-house usage of produced power, and thus low feed-in, represents the most profitable operational mode. This is most notably achieved by those devices designed to cover the electrical baseload.
Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IFEU): www.ifeu.org/english VDMA, Fuel Cells: www.vdma.org/brennstoffzellen (in German) Initiative Brennstoffzelle: www.ibz-info.de (in German) Download the report: http://tinyurl.com/as75wts (in German)
LARGE STATIONARY
FuelCell Energy sells 15 MW fuel cell park to Connecticut utility
I
n Connecticut, FuelCell Energy is providing a turnkey distributed power generation solution for the engineering, procurement, and construction of a 14.9 MW fuel cell park in Bridgeport. The deal includes the manufacture and sale of five 2.8 MW DFC3000® molten carbonate fuel cell power plants that will run on natural gas. Electric/gas utility Dominion will oversee the development, and owns the facility. Connecticut Light & Power (CL&P) will buy the ultra-clean electricity generated by the facility under a 15-year fixed-price energy purchase agreement. This 14.9 MW installation, consisting of the five fuel cell power plants and an organic Rankine cycle turbine for added output and further efficiency gains, is adequate to power approximately 15 000 average-sized US homes. Construction has already begun, with the first power plant installation due in the summer, and the remaining units installed in stages. The interconnection process to connect the fuel cell park to three electrical substations in Bridgeport is already under way through United Illuminating, the local utility that owns the substations. The fuel cell park, located on approximately 1.7 acres (0.7 ha) of land leased from the City of Bridgeport, will be fully operational by December. ‘This is the largest project that we have developed to date in the US, working with three utilities, local and state government to enhance the reliability of the electric grid with clean distributed power generation,’ says Chip Bottone, president and CEO of FuelCell Energy. ‘This highly efficient and ultra-clean fuel cell park will produce economic value for a broad number of stakeholders, both public and private, as well as provide public health benefits.’ The project is supported by the Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority (CEFIA, formerly the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund).
January 2013
NEWS The project will increase product and service backlog for FuelCell Energy by approximately $125 million, including $56 million for product backlog and $69 million for service backlog. Multi-MW fuel cell parks solve power generation challenges for utilities, as the combination of dramatically lower pollutants, modest land-use needs, and quiet operation facilitates siting in urban locations. Fuel cell parks offer advantages for utilities and communities, including high efficiency, scalability, distributed generation, reliability, and baseload power around the clock. Project owner Dominion Bridgeport Fuel Cell LLC will oversee the development, construction, and operation of the facility. Other project partners include Ormat Technologies, which is supplying the proprietary organic Rankine cycle equipment, the Ormat® Energy Converter, which converts heat into electricity. The electrical inverters for the fuel cell power plants will come from Rockwell Automation. The world’s largest fuel cell park, a 58.8 MW installation in Korea, will utilise fuel cell power plants sold by POSCO Energy and based on designs and components from FuelCell Energy [FCB, October 2012, p1]. FuelCell Energy, Danbury, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 203 825 6000, www.fuelcellenergy.com Dominion: www.dom.com Connecticut Light & Power: www.cl-p.com Clean Energy Finance and Investment Authority: www.ctcleanenergy.com United Illuminating Company: www.uinet.com Ormat Technologies: www.ormat.com Rockwell Automation: www.rockwellautomation.com
Apple doubles fuel cell capacity at NC data centre with Bloom
A
pple plans to double the size of the solid oxide fuel cell installation at its new data centre in Maiden, North Carolina, taking it to a total of 10 MW installed capacity when completed. The facility will again use Bloom Energy Servers, running on filtered landfill gas (‘directed biogas’), which is considered a renewable energy resource under North Carolina’s green energy regulations. The first phase of Apple’s fuel cell powered data center project in Maiden began testing last October, following the order announcement
January 2013
last spring [FCB, May 2012, p11]. When it is complete the Apple facility will again be the largest data centre fuel cell installation in the US – a title it quickly lost to eBay when the online auction giant announced its own plans for 6 MW of Bloom Energy Servers for its newly expanded data centre in Utah [FCB, July 2012, p5]. Apple filed the expansion plans for its data centre with the North Carolina Utilities Commission in November, to increase the size of its fuel cell farm from 4.8 MW to 10 MW. Any excess energy generated by the fuel cells and the 250 acre (101 ha) solar farm on the site will be sold to utility Duke Energy. According to the filing, Apple anticipates that the expanded fuel cell facility will be online by the end of January. California-based Bloom Energy is building up an impressive array of high-profile customers for its SOFC technology, based on its 100 and 200 kW Energy Server products. Last autumn telecoms giant AT&T announced plans to install an additional 9.6 MW of Bloom Energy power plants at sites in California and Connecticut, making it Bloom Energy’s largest non-utility customer, with 17.1 MW total installed capacity [FCB, November 2012, p6]. Bloom also has units in service with major companies such as Life Technologies Corporation [FCB, August 2012, p6] as well as organisations such as the University of California at Santa Barbara [FCB, October 2012, p6]. But Bloom Energy doesn’t have the data centre market to itself – Microsoft recently announced that its Data Plant research project in Cheyenne, Wyoming will be powered by a fuel cell supplied by Connecticut-based FuelCell Energy [FCB, December 2012, p5]. The molten carbonate power plant will utilise renewable biogas methane generated by a wastewater treatment facility. Bloom Energy Corporation, Sunnyvale, California, USA. Tel: +1 408 543 1500, www.bloomenergy.com
PORTABLE & MICRO
SFC’s EFOY Pro fuel cell generator powers eagle watch unit
E
FOY Pro fuel cell generators from German-based SFC Energy have enabled the undisturbed video observation of a pair of white-tailed eagles over their recent breeding season in northern Scotland. The direct methanol fuel cell unit – installed by SFC’s system integration partner and
IN BRIEF ITM selects McPhy hydrogen storage tech French-based McPhy Energy (www.mcphy. com) has delivered a solid-state hydrogen storage tank to ITM Power in the UK. The hydrogen tank is based on McPhy’s magnesium hydride technology, and can store up to 4 kg of hydrogen. It can store hydrogen when it is produced, and then release it very easily on demand [see page 6]. ‘McPhy is the first-mover in providing commercial metal hydride storage units at the 4 kg scale that are plug-and-play,’ says Dr Graham Cooley, CEO of ITM Power (www.itm-power.com), a leading developer of hydrogen production systems using electrolysis, whose membrane technology can also be used in fuel cells [see page 11]. sunfire and staxera complete merger In Germany, sunfire GmbH (www.sunfire. de) has completed its merger with solid oxide fuel cell stack developer staxera GmbH, finalising the acquisition which took place in spring 2011 [FCB, June 2011, p10]. The new company will operate as sunfire GmbH, and continue to be headquartered in Dresden. The merger enables new shareholders Bilfinger Venture Capital GmbH and KfW banking group to come on board, while Carl Berninghausen and Christian von Olshausen will continue as CEO and CTO, respectively. The staxera brand will still be used as a product name for SOFC applications; sunfire is also developing an electrolysis-based process to generate synthetic renewable fuels from CO2 and water. enymotion files for bankruptcy Last summer German-based enymotion GmbH (www.enymotion.com) presented its LPG-powered fuel cell system for the camping sector at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf. But just before Christmas the company filed an application for insolvency proceedings. According to an HZwei report, this came after investor Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn decided it was no longer willing to support the company after repeated shifts of the launch date for its enyware L200 unit, which features a hightemperature PEM fuel cell with a fuel processor. Plug Power cuts jobs to boost efficiency In upstate New York, Plug Power has released 22 full-time employees as part of a restructuring plan intended to save the company as much as $4 million in annual operating expenses, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The job cuts should minimise the impact on manufacturing operations. Plug Power runs on ‘lean’ manufacturing principles, according to a TimesUnion.com report, and uses part-time workers for manufacturing and assembly to give it more flexibility week-to-week [see the feature on Plug Power in FCB, December 2011].
Fuel Cells Bulletin
5