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Special Power Sources acquires Atrex Energy
NEWS expanded infrastructure and efficient manufacturing of fuel cell electric vehicles. These strategic investments in leading players in fuel cell, hydrogen production, and hydrogen storage technologies come at a time of heightened demand for fuel cell technology. ‘Our investment in these innovative companies will reduce the production cost of FCEVs, and enhance the safety and affordability of hydrogen infrastructure,’ says Youngcho Chi, President and Chief Innovation Officer at Hyundai Motor Group [see also page 3]. ‘We hope to accelerate the widespread adoption of hydrogen technology by making FCEVs more accessible for our customers.’ Impact Coatings is a leading supplier of physical vapour deposition (PVD) based coating solutions for fuel cells, offering coating materials, machines, and services. The company’s ceramic coatings are cost-efficient substitutes for precious metals used in fuel cell production [FCB, May 2018, p13]. Under the new joint development agreement, Hyundai and Impact Coatings will jointly research and develop a new generation of materials, processes and equipment for a variety of applications, including fuel cells and hydrogen production. H2Pro developed the E-TAC (electrochemical, thermally active chemical) water splitting technology, which is efficient, affordable, and safe. This technology will allow Hyundai to lower the cost of hydrogen production, which will in turn reduce the price of hydrogen for customers. This marks Hyundai’s second investment in the startup since Hyundai Cradle Tel Aviv first announced the partnership in November 2018. GRZ Technologies specialises in energy storage in hydrogen form, with technology to store hydrogen more safely at lower pressure with higher density, while its proprietary compression technology is also more affordable. Hyundai’s agreement with GRZ will accelerate the company’s efforts to commercialise hydrogen infrastructure for greater accessibility to customers. Hyundai Motor Company: http://worldwide.hyundai.com Hyundai NEXO: www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/eco/nexo Impact Coatings: www.impactcoatings.com H2Pro: www.h2pro.co GRZ Technologies: www.grz-technologies.com
Special Power Sources acquires Atrex Energy
O
hio-based Special Power Sources LLC (SPS) has acquired all of the assets of Atrex Energy in 14
Fuel Cells Bulletin
Massachusetts, including the rights to the Hybrid Energy Storage Module (HESM), a key technology for advanced power storage solutions. The deal includes the equipment, intellectual property, licensing rights, and associated technical data related to the development, manufacture, and field support of Atrex Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell power sources. SPS is relocating the Atrex assets to Alliance, Ohio in collaboration with Advanced TechWorks (ATW), an SOFC R&D/manufacturing group that comprises a core of former LG Fuel Cell Systems’ staff [FCB, January 2019, p5]. SPS and ATW will strategically support the R&D, manufacturing, and field servicing for current and future SOFC/HESM products. SPS has exclusive rights to all Atrex Energy technology and products worldwide except for India, South Korea, and Africa. This includes the 600+ delivered systems in the continental US, Canada, and Mexico, including Atrex Energy’s previous existence as Acumentrics SOFC Corporation [e.g. June 2015, p5]. ‘With this acquisition of Atrex, Special Power Sources’ strategy is to become the premier SOFC R&D Industry leader for DOD/DOE [US Departments of Defense and Energy], as well as commercially leading to reliable, remote continuous power running on renewable fuels in the range of 250 W to 5 kW+ serving the oil & gas, telecom, transportation and mining industries,’ says Roland Dixon, President of SPS. Atrex Energy: www.atrexenergy.com
Toshiba ESS partners with Chinese startup for distributed energy
T
oshiba Energy Systems & Solutions has signed a partnership agreement with More Hydrogen Energy Technology Co Ltd (MOH) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, for the development of fuel cell systems in China. This is the first hydrogen business partnership agreement for Toshiba ESS in China. MOH is a startup that is developing fuel cell systems using methanol reforming technology. The company is currently working to establish higher-quality fuel cell systems with longer operating life, and expanding in the Chinese market. The new agreement will see Toshiba ESS supporting MOH’s new fuel cell system development activities.
China’s telecom equipment and services markets are expected to expand rapidly by 2025, which will boost demand for fuel cells as clean distributed energy systems for new communications base stations [see also page 9]. Toshiba ESS [see also page 9] has already delivered more than 100 H2Rex™ pure hydrogen fuel cell systems for fruit and vegetable markets, hotels, and convenience stores in Japan [e.g. FCB, February 2018, p5 and June 2018, p3]. Toshiba ESS, Pure Hydrogen Fuel Cell: www.toshibaenergy.com/en/hydrogen/product/fuel-cell.htm
RESEARCH
INN-BALANCE adds partner, long-term tests on BOP components
T
he INN-BALANCE project is focused on balance-of-plant (BOP) components for automotive fuel cell systems, developing new features to supply hydrogen and air to the stack and improved concepts for thermal management and control. The EU-funded project has now reached an important stage with the long-term testing of BOP components, and has been joined by CEVT, the automotive engineering innovation centre in the Chinese Geely group. BOP functions comprise the injection and recirculation of hydrogen at the anode of the fuel cell system, air supply at the cathode, as well as overall control system and thermal management. The aim is to bring to market optimised BOP with higher efficiency and lower costs [FCB, June 2018, p13]. For the next 18 months the INN-BALANCE team will scrutinise the performance and durability of each component, individually and on a system level. CEVT (China Euro Vehicle Technology AB), a Swedish joint venture between sister companies Geely Auto and Volvo Cars, will provide its Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) to simulate integration of INNBALANCE components in an actual car. The first tests of the components developed by INN-BALANCE have already been run in partners’ labs, and the insights gathered in this phase of testing individual parts have prepared for the assessment of their interoperability with the fuel cell stack on test benches at PowerCell Sweden [January 2017, p3, and see pages 4 and 13 in this issue]. The latter step will reveal the system’s overall performance,
November 2019
Special Power Sources acquires Atrex Energy
O
hio-based Special Power Sources LLC (SPS) has acquired all of the assets of Atrex Energy in 14
Fuel Cells Bulletin
Massachusetts, including the rights to the Hybrid Energy Storage Module (HESM), a key technology for advanced power storage solutions. The deal includes the equipment, intellectual property, licensing rights, and associated technical data related to the development, manufacture, and field support of Atrex Energy’s solid oxide fuel cell power sources. SPS is relocating the Atrex assets to Alliance, Ohio in collaboration with Advanced TechWorks (ATW), an SOFC R&D/manufacturing group that comprises a core of former LG Fuel Cell Systems’ staff [FCB, January 2019, p5]. SPS and ATW will strategically support the R&D, manufacturing, and field servicing for current and future SOFC/HESM products. SPS has exclusive rights to all Atrex Energy technology and products worldwide except for India, South Korea, and Africa. This includes the 600+ delivered systems in the continental US, Canada, and Mexico, including Atrex Energy’s previous existence as Acumentrics SOFC Corporation [e.g. June 2015, p5]. ‘With this acquisition of Atrex, Special Power Sources’ strategy is to become the premier SOFC R&D Industry leader for DOD/DOE [US Departments of Defense and Energy], as well as commercially leading to reliable, remote continuous power running on renewable fuels in the range of 250 W to 5 kW+ serving the oil & gas, telecom, transportation and mining industries,’ says Roland Dixon, President of SPS. Atrex Energy: www.atrexenergy.com
Toshiba ESS partners with Chinese startup for distributed energy
T
oshiba Energy Systems & Solutions has signed a partnership agreement with More Hydrogen Energy Technology Co Ltd (MOH) in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, for the development of fuel cell systems in China. This is the first hydrogen business partnership agreement for Toshiba ESS in China. MOH is a startup that is developing fuel cell systems using methanol reforming technology. The company is currently working to establish higher-quality fuel cell systems with longer operating life, and expanding in the Chinese market. The new agreement will see Toshiba ESS supporting MOH’s new fuel cell system development activities.
China’s telecom equipment and services markets are expected to expand rapidly by 2025, which will boost demand for fuel cells as clean distributed energy systems for new communications base stations [see also page 9]. Toshiba ESS [see also page 9] has already delivered more than 100 H2Rex™ pure hydrogen fuel cell systems for fruit and vegetable markets, hotels, and convenience stores in Japan [e.g. FCB, February 2018, p5 and June 2018, p3]. Toshiba ESS, Pure Hydrogen Fuel Cell: www.toshibaenergy.com/en/hydrogen/product/fuel-cell.htm
RESEARCH
INN-BALANCE adds partner, long-term tests on BOP components
T
he INN-BALANCE project is focused on balance-of-plant (BOP) components for automotive fuel cell systems, developing new features to supply hydrogen and air to the stack and improved concepts for thermal management and control. The EU-funded project has now reached an important stage with the long-term testing of BOP components, and has been joined by CEVT, the automotive engineering innovation centre in the Chinese Geely group. BOP functions comprise the injection and recirculation of hydrogen at the anode of the fuel cell system, air supply at the cathode, as well as overall control system and thermal management. The aim is to bring to market optimised BOP with higher efficiency and lower costs [FCB, June 2018, p13]. For the next 18 months the INN-BALANCE team will scrutinise the performance and durability of each component, individually and on a system level. CEVT (China Euro Vehicle Technology AB), a Swedish joint venture between sister companies Geely Auto and Volvo Cars, will provide its Compact Modular Architecture (CMA) to simulate integration of INNBALANCE components in an actual car. The first tests of the components developed by INN-BALANCE have already been run in partners’ labs, and the insights gathered in this phase of testing individual parts have prepared for the assessment of their interoperability with the fuel cell stack on test benches at PowerCell Sweden [January 2017, p3, and see pages 4 and 13 in this issue]. The latter step will reveal the system’s overall performance,
November 2019