- Email: [email protected]
Germany welcomes Still fuel cell materials handling
NEWS / EDITORIAL US National Fuel Cell Bus Program: www.calstart.org/ projects/low-carbon-bus-program/National-Fuel-CellBus-Program.aspx BAE Systems, HybriDrive Propulsion Systems: www. baesystems.com/ProductsServices/bae_prod_eis_ hybridrive.html
MOBILE APPLICATIONS
UTC auxiliary power in BMW hybrid car
B
MW Group Research and Technology has unveiled a new hybrid electric vehicle that uses a UTC Power PEM fuel cell system as an auxiliary power unit. The vehicle was unveiled at the recent 25th anniversary BMW ZT celebration in Munich, Germany. The 5 kW UTC Power fuel cell system is completely self-contained, and features simple vehicle interfaces, which allow for easy integration and installation. For more than a decade UTC Power – part of United Technologies Corporation – has been working with BMW to develop highly efficient, zero-emission, and freeze-capable fuel cell systems. Ken Stewart, vice president of the UTC Power transportation business, says the fuel cell system in the BMW 1 Series car represents the culmination of more than 10 years of development work on durability and freeze capability technology. ‘From a fully frozen state, the fuel cell is halfway to full power in less than 30 seconds,’ says Stewart. ‘The system uses UTC Power’s proprietary ambient pressure technology, which does not require a compressor to deliver air to the cell stack. This results in a quieter, more efficient system.’ UTC Power has been working with BMW since 1999, and has developed and delivered PEM fuel cell auxiliary power units (APUs) for demonstration in several BMW vehicles. The first unit was demonstrated at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 1999, in a BMW 7 series car. The hydrogen-fueled 5 kW APU provided energy for all of the car’s onboard electrical needs, including climate control – even when the engine was off. BMW has performed durability testing on the third-generation UTC Power APU. To date, the unit has achieved more than 3000 h of operation, well above expectations.
UTC Power, South Windsor, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 860 727 2200, www.utcpower.com BMW Group Research & Technology: http://ow.ly/1s8JT
April 2010
Food distributor calls on Plug, Air Products to power lift trucks
U
nited Natural Foods Inc (UNFI) has announced plans to adopt hydrogen fuel cell technology to power the lift truck fleet at its Sarasota, Florida food products distribution center. The company will mobilize 65 GenDrive™ fuel cell powered lift trucks at the facility, with completion targeted for June. As part of the Sarasota initiative to replace lead-acid batteries and their associated charging equipment with hydrogen fuel cells, UNFI has partnered with a number of companies to implement the rollout, including fuel cells from Plug Power, hydrogen refueling by Air Products, and Abel Womack Inc for the materials handling equipment. UNFI will add 29 new hydrogen fuel cellpowered lift trucks to its fleet, and 36 existing lift trucks will be retrofitted with Plug Power’s PEM fuel cell technology. By converting its Sarasota lift truck fleet to hydrogen fuel cells, UNFI expects carbon emissions will be reduced by approximately 132 tonnes annually, an amount equivalent to the emissions of 35 automobiles. The 352 000 ft2 (32 700 m2) Sarasota facility serves as a regional distribution hub for customers in the southeastern US. ‘Hydrogen fuel cells not only provide greater productivity and lower operating costs, but will be an important component of a clean energy future, and we are happy to be pioneering the use of this technology in Florida,’ comments Tom Dziki, UNFI’s senior vice president of sustainable development. ‘Once implemented, this fuel cell project is expected to create annual energy savings of approximately 640 MWh.’ Plug Power Inc: www.plugpower.com Air Products, Hydrogen Energy Solutions: www.airproducts.com/h2energy Abel Womack Inc: www.abelwomack.com United Natural Foods Inc: www.unfi.com
Germany welcomes Still fuel cell materials handling
T
he first fuel cell powered reach truck in Germany, an FM-X 20 reach truck from Still GmbH, has joined an
EDITORIAL
S
ocial networking provides a variety of ways for both experts and newbies to find out more about fuel cells and hydrogen energy, and is facilitating the increasing interest in and applications of these technologies. While Facebook provides a channel for companies or organizations (so far, just a few in the fuel cells arena) to highlight their activities, it is probably the more newsy networking media that offer the most useful insight into how fuel cells and hydrogen energy are perceived among the interested masses. Twitter has established a reputation as a medium for very fast, global dissemination of news and information, and this holds for fuel cells just as much as breaking headline news or showbiz gossip. FCB has a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/FCBulletin), which I use to provide brief headlines and links to topical news items that are posted on www.RenewableEnergyFocus.com (in the section on ‘Energy storage including fuel cells’). Sometimes these include hashtags such as #fuelcells, #fuelcell, or #hydrogen, which are labels included in the tweet that can help readers trawling the Twitterverse to pick out tweets of particular fuel cell interest. It must be said that being strictly limited to 140 characters certainly focuses the mind on what you want to convey… And there is certainly plenty of interest in fuel cells and hydrogen energy, going way beyond those with a professional interest in research & development and commercialization. As well as a multitude of ‘normal’ people posting items on news and articles they have found, there are also posts from the likes of the California Fuel Cell Partnership and Fuel Cell Today. The latest news from the BC Hydrogen Highway in Vancouver comes via ‘PoweringNow’, which was tweeting fit to burst about fuel cell vehicles, displays and outreach activities during the 2010 Winter Olympics a couple of months back. You may be aware that my LinkedIn page (http://uk.linkedin.com/in/barrettsteve) also has regular news updates, along the same lines as my Twitter updates. LinkedIn is a more business-like medium, and allows you to create a network that can be kept up to date with what you are working on, or want to tell people about. It also hosts groups of likeminded professionals, such as the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Network (1400 members) and the Fuel Cell Technology group (220 members), which offer a forum for discussions or indeed business connections to be made.
Steve Barrett
Fuel Cells Bulletin
3
NEWS R 60-25 electric truck currently being tested in materials handling applications at BASF Coatings AG in Münster. Both vehicles utilize PEM fuel cell systems supplied by Nuvera Fuel Cells. The other project partners are Hoppecke, which is responsible for integrating the fuel cells into the vehicles, and Linde Gases, which supplied the hydrogen fueling station. The project is funded by the Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) regional government, under its ‘progres.nrw’ program. Nuvera has been working with Hoppecke on fuel cell lift truck applications for several years. The FM-X 20 reach truck delivers finished goods for despatch at the BASF Coatings distribution center, while the R 60 moves manufacturing raw materials from the logistics warehouse to the production area. The two trucks are refueled at the onsite hydrogen fueling station. Hamburg-based Still GmbH has been involved with fuel cells as an alternative to conventional batteries since 2003. The company has been involved in a number of projects using fuel cell technology, and is the first materials handling company with experience in operating fuel cell driven tractors, forklifts and reach trucks. HHLA Logistics has been operating a Still R 60-25 fuel cell powered electric truck in a field trial at the port of Hamburg since 2008, and two Still R 07-25 fuel cell tractors have been transporting baggage at Hamburg airport since late 2006. Hydrogen stations have also been established at these locations.
Funding was provided as part of a $6.1 million award made to GENCO last April by the Department of Energy, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This award will ultimately see GENCO deploy more than 350 GenDrive units at Kimberly-Clark and other companies. ‘We’ve had a two-unit pilot program in place with Kimberly-Clark at their Graniteville, SC facility, and look forward to the many benefits of the full deployment,’ comments GENCO project manager, Bob Simon. ‘Our pilot at the Graniteville site has been very successful, and we’re pleased to be able to partner with GENCO and Plug Power in expanding hydrogen fuel cell technology to the entire lift truck fleet at this facility,’ adds Joe DeYoung, Kimberly-Clark distribution operations manager for North American Consumer Products.
Still GmbH: www.still.de
J
Nuvera Fuel Cells: www.nuvera.com Hoppecke Batterien GmbH: www.hoppecke.com progres.nrw initiative: www.progres.nrw.de (in German)
GENCO buys Plug fuel cells for lift trucks
P
ennsylvania-based logistics provider GENCO Supply Chain Solutions has purchased 25 GenDrive™ hydrogen fuel cell power units from Plug Power, for use in lift trucks. The fuel cells will be used to convert batterypowered lift trucks at a Kimberly-Clark Distribution Center in South Carolina. The GenDrive units will power the lift trucks at a 450 000 ft2 (42 000 m2) distribution center in Graniteville, South Carolina that GENCO operates for Kimberly-Clark Corporation. The GenDrive units are scheduled for delivery in May and June. 4
Fuel Cells Bulletin
GENCO Supply Chain Solutions, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Tel: 1 800 677 3110 (tollfree in US and Canada), www.genco.com Plug Power Inc, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com Kimberly-Clark Corporation: www.kimberly-clark.com
Boeing, IHI to work on regenerative fuel cells for aviation apanese industrial conglomerate IHI has signed an agreement with aerospace giant Boeing to jointly research regenerative fuel cell technology to provide electrical power for airplanes. The partners will explore the application of regenerative fuel cells, which work much like rechargeable batteries, to power certain aircraft electrical systems independently of enginedriven generators. This would reduce the load on the aircraft’s electrical supply, and allow for smaller, lighter power generation systems. This in turn could potentially reduce weight, fuel burn, and CO2 emissions. At present, aircraft engines burn fuel to produce both the required thrust and onboard electric power. As electricity is generated in proportion to thrust, when the engines are not at full power – for example when the aircraft is taxiing on the ground, or descending – the amount produced tends to fall short of demand.However, when climbing or cruising, more electrical power than required is generated. Regenerative fuel cells would use this surplus energy in the electrolysis of water to produce
oxygen and hydrogen, which is stored and used to produce electricity when supply falls short. In this way, regenerative fuel cells can be used to optimize aircraft electricity production so that lower demand is placed on engine generators, and lighter electrical systems can be realized. This in turn can reduce fuel burn. IHI will produce a prototype regenerative fuel cell for testing on the ground in the 2010– 2011 timeframe. It is also considering carrying out in-flight tests using regenerative fuel cells to provide auxiliary power, for example in an aircraft galley, by the end of 2013. Through this research, IHI will collaborate with Boeing to create enhanced technical understanding of the utility and environmental benefits for aviation of the underlying fuel cell technologies. This pre-commercial research has been adopted in public competition by Japan’s ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI), under the auspices of its Fundamental Technology Research Program for Advanced Airplane Systems (Innovative Technology Development for Airplane Systems). IHI is Japan’s largest manufacturer of aeroengines, and has significant experience in technology development and manufacturing in the fuel cell field. It has worked with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Organization (NEDO) on ground-based fuel cell research, and its subsidiary company IHI Aerospace is collaborating with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on regenerative fuel cells as part of the electrical power system for a stratospheric platform airship. IHI Aero-Engines and Space Operations: www.ihi.co.jp/ ihi/gaikyo/kankei/koukuu-e.html Boeing, Environment: www.boeing.com/aboutus/environment/index.htm
SMALL STATIONARY
More orders underline Heliocentris expansion strategy in Mid-East
G
erman-based Heliocentris Fuel Cells is to supply an autonomous fuel cell power supply solution to the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAEET), a leading training center in Kuwait. The clean energy storage specialist has also won an order for an autonomous laboratory power supply from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
April 2010
MOBILE APPLICATIONS
UTC auxiliary power in BMW hybrid car
B
MW Group Research and Technology has unveiled a new hybrid electric vehicle that uses a UTC Power PEM fuel cell system as an auxiliary power unit. The vehicle was unveiled at the recent 25th anniversary BMW ZT celebration in Munich, Germany. The 5 kW UTC Power fuel cell system is completely self-contained, and features simple vehicle interfaces, which allow for easy integration and installation. For more than a decade UTC Power – part of United Technologies Corporation – has been working with BMW to develop highly efficient, zero-emission, and freeze-capable fuel cell systems. Ken Stewart, vice president of the UTC Power transportation business, says the fuel cell system in the BMW 1 Series car represents the culmination of more than 10 years of development work on durability and freeze capability technology. ‘From a fully frozen state, the fuel cell is halfway to full power in less than 30 seconds,’ says Stewart. ‘The system uses UTC Power’s proprietary ambient pressure technology, which does not require a compressor to deliver air to the cell stack. This results in a quieter, more efficient system.’ UTC Power has been working with BMW since 1999, and has developed and delivered PEM fuel cell auxiliary power units (APUs) for demonstration in several BMW vehicles. The first unit was demonstrated at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 1999, in a BMW 7 series car. The hydrogen-fueled 5 kW APU provided energy for all of the car’s onboard electrical needs, including climate control – even when the engine was off. BMW has performed durability testing on the third-generation UTC Power APU. To date, the unit has achieved more than 3000 h of operation, well above expectations.
UTC Power, South Windsor, Connecticut, USA. Tel: +1 860 727 2200, www.utcpower.com BMW Group Research & Technology: http://ow.ly/1s8JT
April 2010
Food distributor calls on Plug, Air Products to power lift trucks
U
nited Natural Foods Inc (UNFI) has announced plans to adopt hydrogen fuel cell technology to power the lift truck fleet at its Sarasota, Florida food products distribution center. The company will mobilize 65 GenDrive™ fuel cell powered lift trucks at the facility, with completion targeted for June. As part of the Sarasota initiative to replace lead-acid batteries and their associated charging equipment with hydrogen fuel cells, UNFI has partnered with a number of companies to implement the rollout, including fuel cells from Plug Power, hydrogen refueling by Air Products, and Abel Womack Inc for the materials handling equipment. UNFI will add 29 new hydrogen fuel cellpowered lift trucks to its fleet, and 36 existing lift trucks will be retrofitted with Plug Power’s PEM fuel cell technology. By converting its Sarasota lift truck fleet to hydrogen fuel cells, UNFI expects carbon emissions will be reduced by approximately 132 tonnes annually, an amount equivalent to the emissions of 35 automobiles. The 352 000 ft2 (32 700 m2) Sarasota facility serves as a regional distribution hub for customers in the southeastern US. ‘Hydrogen fuel cells not only provide greater productivity and lower operating costs, but will be an important component of a clean energy future, and we are happy to be pioneering the use of this technology in Florida,’ comments Tom Dziki, UNFI’s senior vice president of sustainable development. ‘Once implemented, this fuel cell project is expected to create annual energy savings of approximately 640 MWh.’ Plug Power Inc: www.plugpower.com Air Products, Hydrogen Energy Solutions: www.airproducts.com/h2energy Abel Womack Inc: www.abelwomack.com United Natural Foods Inc: www.unfi.com
Germany welcomes Still fuel cell materials handling
T
he first fuel cell powered reach truck in Germany, an FM-X 20 reach truck from Still GmbH, has joined an
EDITORIAL
S
ocial networking provides a variety of ways for both experts and newbies to find out more about fuel cells and hydrogen energy, and is facilitating the increasing interest in and applications of these technologies. While Facebook provides a channel for companies or organizations (so far, just a few in the fuel cells arena) to highlight their activities, it is probably the more newsy networking media that offer the most useful insight into how fuel cells and hydrogen energy are perceived among the interested masses. Twitter has established a reputation as a medium for very fast, global dissemination of news and information, and this holds for fuel cells just as much as breaking headline news or showbiz gossip. FCB has a Twitter account (http://twitter.com/FCBulletin), which I use to provide brief headlines and links to topical news items that are posted on www.RenewableEnergyFocus.com (in the section on ‘Energy storage including fuel cells’). Sometimes these include hashtags such as #fuelcells, #fuelcell, or #hydrogen, which are labels included in the tweet that can help readers trawling the Twitterverse to pick out tweets of particular fuel cell interest. It must be said that being strictly limited to 140 characters certainly focuses the mind on what you want to convey… And there is certainly plenty of interest in fuel cells and hydrogen energy, going way beyond those with a professional interest in research & development and commercialization. As well as a multitude of ‘normal’ people posting items on news and articles they have found, there are also posts from the likes of the California Fuel Cell Partnership and Fuel Cell Today. The latest news from the BC Hydrogen Highway in Vancouver comes via ‘PoweringNow’, which was tweeting fit to burst about fuel cell vehicles, displays and outreach activities during the 2010 Winter Olympics a couple of months back. You may be aware that my LinkedIn page (http://uk.linkedin.com/in/barrettsteve) also has regular news updates, along the same lines as my Twitter updates. LinkedIn is a more business-like medium, and allows you to create a network that can be kept up to date with what you are working on, or want to tell people about. It also hosts groups of likeminded professionals, such as the Fuel Cell & Hydrogen Network (1400 members) and the Fuel Cell Technology group (220 members), which offer a forum for discussions or indeed business connections to be made.
Steve Barrett
Fuel Cells Bulletin
3
NEWS R 60-25 electric truck currently being tested in materials handling applications at BASF Coatings AG in Münster. Both vehicles utilize PEM fuel cell systems supplied by Nuvera Fuel Cells. The other project partners are Hoppecke, which is responsible for integrating the fuel cells into the vehicles, and Linde Gases, which supplied the hydrogen fueling station. The project is funded by the Nordrhein-Westfalen (NRW) regional government, under its ‘progres.nrw’ program. Nuvera has been working with Hoppecke on fuel cell lift truck applications for several years. The FM-X 20 reach truck delivers finished goods for despatch at the BASF Coatings distribution center, while the R 60 moves manufacturing raw materials from the logistics warehouse to the production area. The two trucks are refueled at the onsite hydrogen fueling station. Hamburg-based Still GmbH has been involved with fuel cells as an alternative to conventional batteries since 2003. The company has been involved in a number of projects using fuel cell technology, and is the first materials handling company with experience in operating fuel cell driven tractors, forklifts and reach trucks. HHLA Logistics has been operating a Still R 60-25 fuel cell powered electric truck in a field trial at the port of Hamburg since 2008, and two Still R 07-25 fuel cell tractors have been transporting baggage at Hamburg airport since late 2006. Hydrogen stations have also been established at these locations.
Funding was provided as part of a $6.1 million award made to GENCO last April by the Department of Energy, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This award will ultimately see GENCO deploy more than 350 GenDrive units at Kimberly-Clark and other companies. ‘We’ve had a two-unit pilot program in place with Kimberly-Clark at their Graniteville, SC facility, and look forward to the many benefits of the full deployment,’ comments GENCO project manager, Bob Simon. ‘Our pilot at the Graniteville site has been very successful, and we’re pleased to be able to partner with GENCO and Plug Power in expanding hydrogen fuel cell technology to the entire lift truck fleet at this facility,’ adds Joe DeYoung, Kimberly-Clark distribution operations manager for North American Consumer Products.
Still GmbH: www.still.de
J
Nuvera Fuel Cells: www.nuvera.com Hoppecke Batterien GmbH: www.hoppecke.com progres.nrw initiative: www.progres.nrw.de (in German)
GENCO buys Plug fuel cells for lift trucks
P
ennsylvania-based logistics provider GENCO Supply Chain Solutions has purchased 25 GenDrive™ hydrogen fuel cell power units from Plug Power, for use in lift trucks. The fuel cells will be used to convert batterypowered lift trucks at a Kimberly-Clark Distribution Center in South Carolina. The GenDrive units will power the lift trucks at a 450 000 ft2 (42 000 m2) distribution center in Graniteville, South Carolina that GENCO operates for Kimberly-Clark Corporation. The GenDrive units are scheduled for delivery in May and June. 4
Fuel Cells Bulletin
GENCO Supply Chain Solutions, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Tel: 1 800 677 3110 (tollfree in US and Canada), www.genco.com Plug Power Inc, Latham, New York, USA. Tel: +1 518 782 7700, www.plugpower.com Kimberly-Clark Corporation: www.kimberly-clark.com
Boeing, IHI to work on regenerative fuel cells for aviation apanese industrial conglomerate IHI has signed an agreement with aerospace giant Boeing to jointly research regenerative fuel cell technology to provide electrical power for airplanes. The partners will explore the application of regenerative fuel cells, which work much like rechargeable batteries, to power certain aircraft electrical systems independently of enginedriven generators. This would reduce the load on the aircraft’s electrical supply, and allow for smaller, lighter power generation systems. This in turn could potentially reduce weight, fuel burn, and CO2 emissions. At present, aircraft engines burn fuel to produce both the required thrust and onboard electric power. As electricity is generated in proportion to thrust, when the engines are not at full power – for example when the aircraft is taxiing on the ground, or descending – the amount produced tends to fall short of demand.However, when climbing or cruising, more electrical power than required is generated. Regenerative fuel cells would use this surplus energy in the electrolysis of water to produce
oxygen and hydrogen, which is stored and used to produce electricity when supply falls short. In this way, regenerative fuel cells can be used to optimize aircraft electricity production so that lower demand is placed on engine generators, and lighter electrical systems can be realized. This in turn can reduce fuel burn. IHI will produce a prototype regenerative fuel cell for testing on the ground in the 2010– 2011 timeframe. It is also considering carrying out in-flight tests using regenerative fuel cells to provide auxiliary power, for example in an aircraft galley, by the end of 2013. Through this research, IHI will collaborate with Boeing to create enhanced technical understanding of the utility and environmental benefits for aviation of the underlying fuel cell technologies. This pre-commercial research has been adopted in public competition by Japan’s ministry of economy, trade and industry (METI), under the auspices of its Fundamental Technology Research Program for Advanced Airplane Systems (Innovative Technology Development for Airplane Systems). IHI is Japan’s largest manufacturer of aeroengines, and has significant experience in technology development and manufacturing in the fuel cell field. It has worked with the New Energy and Industrial Technology Organization (NEDO) on ground-based fuel cell research, and its subsidiary company IHI Aerospace is collaborating with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on regenerative fuel cells as part of the electrical power system for a stratospheric platform airship. IHI Aero-Engines and Space Operations: www.ihi.co.jp/ ihi/gaikyo/kankei/koukuu-e.html Boeing, Environment: www.boeing.com/aboutus/environment/index.htm
SMALL STATIONARY
More orders underline Heliocentris expansion strategy in Mid-East
G
erman-based Heliocentris Fuel Cells is to supply an autonomous fuel cell power supply solution to the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (PAEET), a leading training center in Kuwait. The clean energy storage specialist has also won an order for an autonomous laboratory power supply from King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
April 2010